Containing people’s plight and creating an agreeable living environment through meaningful programmes are the hallmark of a good and commendable government. When the government’s policies are people oriented, the beneficiaries will have no choice but to pride in their government.
The joy, the pride and the self identification that are supposed to be part and parcel of the lives of people of a state have long been rubbished in the bin of neglect in Kogi State. It is without doubt that an average Kogite does not take glory in his own state, let alone in his government. The rationale behind the denial or the apathy is not far from the fact that of all the states and cities in the North Central region of Nigeria, Kogi State, and, precisely, Lokoja is the poorest and the dirtiest. This is due to a total neglect of the administrative responsibilities of the new government.
Job creation has always been the political anthem of most Nigerian political office holders. The Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo Iweala once stated She stated that the government of President Goodluck Jonathan had created 1.6 million jobs within 12 months; that 431,021 jobs were created in the first quarter of 2013, showing an upward trend in job creation and an increase of 11.69 per cent from the fourth quarter of 2012. This anthem is sung so loud that you will wonder who the beneficiaries of these jobs are. In Kogi State, billboards, celebrating the Governor and his wife stated that the governor created jobs for Kogi women. But where do these women live?
In some cases, promises are handed out on the need to develop the state. But to match the words with the corresponding actions is the basic tool that is missing in the lives of my governor. On June 24, 2014, according to the KogiReports website, the Governor promised to “keep the state in better environment to give a good impression to visitors”. We have yet to see any changes.
In terms of job creation by the Kogi State government, singing the song is intended, as I see it, to deceive the helpless, homeless and hapless people and to make them believe that the domant government is working.
Illiteracy and half-education were once used as bases to blame the first two governments of Kogi State of poor performance. Yet, these governors established many lofty and commendable projects that people are enjoying today.
Our first educated governor, years after mounting the throne of leadership and singing the song of employing a mere hungry 500 teachers, has yet to make us see the fruits of his anthem. The process of employing these teachers, apart from being slow(starting from early 2013 till now without success or a headway), tedius and annoying, it is also oscillating and without a ray of hope as many political office holders injected their candidates and are even selling off the slots at so high a cost. What about the advert published in the Graphic newspaper, requesting applications for various positions in the Kogi State University, Anyigba? Has the governor till today said a word or two about that? Why is he so indifferent when it comes to welfare and job creation?
Following the high of rate of joblessness in Kogi State, many graduates find themselves in many private schools in the state where they are paid whatever the proprietors wish. Apart from an outright delay in salaries payment, many private schools owners exploit their employees from 7am to 5pm for just a pittance. From time to time, the threat of laying employees off over a slight provocation is a recurring decimal. If Governor Wada had done what he is constitutionally supposed to do, the abuse of human dignity as is very prevalent in Kogi State, especially in private schools would not recorded. Elsewhere, private schools teachers enjoy better pay than government schools teachers. The reverse is the case here because the government has no developmental policies.
If Wada’s first attempt at creating a job for mere 500 teachers is moving at snail speed, and even without a faintest hope, then it is clear that he may not be the “Messiah” the people have long been waiting for or have been earnestly seeking; and the possibility and the ability to take care of the million people’s jobs and creating even a better, bigger ones in the land in the next round of governance is not assured.
Odih Daniel N.
Lokoja, Kogi State.
