The attention of the Kogi State Deputy Governor Yomi Awoniyi has been drawn to a recent publication in GOVERNMENT, a subsidiary of Leadership Group of Newspapers, purporting that Kogi State might be unsafe for investors to do business.
In a statement issued, the Kogi State Deputy Governor, Awoniyi described as unfair the listing of Kogi Among Unsafe States for Investors.
The lead story dated Monday-Sunday May 6, 2013 and titled “14 Safe States in Nigeria”, listed two other categories of states under the above headline sub-titled: “10 Unsafe States” and “13 Relatively Safe States”. The writer categorized Kogi among the unsafe, stating why, in his opinion, foreigners and tourists alike shun such states.
The author, in the said write up, took time to enumerate events and criminal activities in the respective states to back his report.
Unfortunately, he had little time nor space to spell out those sustained violent or criminal activities that he considered to have been rampant in Kogi to justify its classification as unsafe. The State Government’s statement noted that much as we appreciate the good intentions behind the write up, the government and people of Kogi State REJECT and refute such uninformed and satanic categorization, which to the best of our understanding seeks to taint the present peaceful/conducive atmosphere in the state with a blacklist.
Part of his statement reads “We are not unaware of the fact that Nigeria, a country populated generally by law abiding citizens has been faced with serious security challenges in the past recent years, with the effects felt more in some Northern states, of which Kogi, located in the North Central geo-political region is constantly, and quite naturally too, under tight security surveillance.
The second and third quarters of 2012 no doubt was most challenging for the people of Kogi State though; a case study was the killing of 18 worshipers in a Church in Okene on the night of August 6, 2012. It came at a time of discoveries/extermination of bomb making factories in some villages in Kogi West and central.
Some hoodlums also broke into banks in Kogi Central and West, in what looked like a coordinated criminal/terror upsurge. Such cases, which were alien to the state reputed for its peace attributes, however, did not tarry. Swift security measures immediately swung in place by the then eight-month-old government of Capt Idris Wada have since proved to be effective as the attempts by terrorists seeking inroad to Kogi, have been put in check till date. As a result of that sustained efforts jointly by the state government and the JTF, comprising the Army and the Police, it is gladdening to say that Kogi, as at today, is back to its old reckoning in the 90s when our dear state was adjudged the most peaceful in the federation. It is a statement of fact, that while these attacks that have now become part of history in our dear state lasted, Lokoja, the state capital nay other towns, are still insulated from any major incidence worth that name with due respect to some of the states categorized as ‘safe’.”
The statement called on the author of the said publication to make bold to take inventory of record of kidnappings at his disposal and tell the world if a state like Kogi, with just one case of kidnapping in the last 22 years, could have been less safer than states where cases of kidnapping, bunkering and militancy have been a daily occurrence.
An idle mind, an adage says, is a devil’s workshop. Thus the proactive administration of Governor Wada had this adage in mind.
Therefore, it went a step further in its drive to frontally and decisively confront the menace of robberies and gangsterism among the youth of Kogi State, when he instituted YAD4KOGI (Youth Advancement for Kogi State) programme. The programme which so far has trained and engaged 2400 youths for entrepreneurship in their various categories, is aimed to pull thousands of jobless Kogi youths out of the streets to make them self reliant.
Similarly the statement noted the influx of foreign partners and Investors that have already commenced several businesses while others are on the verge of setting up new businesses within the last eighteen months in the state as another indication of how safe Kogi State is for investors.
Without mincing words and with all sense of humility, Kogi State the statement added has the lowest record of crime rate in the country is adjudged as the most peaceful state in the country is Safe for investors.
With the Ajaokuta Steel Industry, Itakpe iron ore mining company and Obajana Cement factory among others located in Kogi state,the state which is a gateway to the North, South and Eastern states with 24 states criss-crossing on daily basis is a tourist and investor destination.
Furthermore the State which boost of twenty three solid minerals,natural resources and rich arable land for agriculture,makes it a confluence of possibilities and an investors haven.
The peaceful conduct of the recently concluded elections into the local councils in the state, especially in Kogi Central zone, notorious for violence during past elections, is one more reliable evidence that Kogi is safe and conducive for life, property and all human endeavor to dwell in and thrive.
The statement called on mischief makers to have a rethink in negatively branding the state as it is an investors bride safe to be explored.
