The easiest way to xray every sitting government is to closely look at the conditions of its ministries and how this commissions are been administered.
It is upon this bothering back drop that I think it fit to evaluate the conditions of all the available ministries in Kogi state, so as to first provide to my readers and the general public a detail situation of this commissions and debunk the lies this commissions have often paraded on the media and even conventions.
Secondly, to call the difficult attentions of the present Commissioners to this in-appropriates and how heavily they have at least reduce the supposed growth such ministry would have registered by now.
And thirdly, to question the integrity of the Yayaha Bello led government and strongly call for a sort of adjustment, redress and most of all check and balance on the manner in which this ministries are been piloted.
I will begin with the Ministry of Education presently headed by Mrs Rosemary Osikoya, and formally headed by Jacob Tolorunleke. This ministry is not just a complete failure but one of the ministry that has succeeded in making the state one of the most illiterate state in the country.
Education in Kogi state has heavily depreciated to a level where graduates from our state owned institutes can not even speak good English any more, classrooms are no longer available,labs have been taking by forest. There are secondary schools without teachers, some do not even have access to new curriculum, no teaching materials, vandalized classrooms without desk and common chalkboards, our primary schools are like village squares with our pupils learning under trees and corridors, some are even used by our teachers for farm works, picking of cashew, losing of hair and breaking of Mellon during school hours.
I want to believe this commission is fully aware of this,but up till now all it does is to hold conventions at Lokoja and visit few public schools at the capital and conclude,forgetting that the rural areas are the most vulnerable.
Some of us still remember when Sylvester Onoja was the commissioner for education and the level of discipline,check and balance he ensured across the state, unlike today where the ministry only concentrates on schools in and around the state capital.
The Ministry of health is under Dr Saka Haruna Audu and I know some of us are hearing the name for the first time just like me, but the question some of us have been asking is if this commission actually knows its responsibility, because even as at time of writing there are still district in Kogi state that does not have a “one room” health care centre and the ones that does, do not have common paracetamol or the cheapest of first aids, the ministry has never embark on any meaningful health sensitization, provision of drugs and even minor treatments for the poor masses.
On daily basis we hear jingles of drugs and treatments made available by the ministry, but when the people get to the venue the opposite is always the out come.
On several occasions we have advised that this ministry should go into partnership with other international bodies so as to boast health provisions especially now that there are no funds in state, but none of this has been done, and today we have a state with the poorest concern towards the health of its citizens.
The ministry of transport is also worthy of view, it is headed by Alhaji Mohammed Lawal, let us begin with the confluence buses, how it’s been managed, because if it’s managed properly more buses should have been provided by now, what about the buses provided by the Wada led government where are they? Funds from this ministry have always been swayed away making it so hard to boast the sector or even provide vehicles that could replace the former.
It will also interest us to know that this sector is more of a family affair,Buses provided are allocated “relatively”.
Aside that why has the ministry refuse to encourage the provision of other forms of transportation, especially the option of an airport.
We know the level of development and employment that will be attained if an airport is located in Lokoja or in Kogi state, but the ministry has remain reluctant about this, just like it has remained reluctant about providing and structuring an inter state and inter local government transport service.
The ministry of Agriculture is headed by Barr Kehinde Oluruntoba and this is one ministry that is so key to the growth of Kogi state. Being a state with the confluence of the two largest river in the country is enough reason to be one of the largest Agro producing state, but up till now this ministry lacks this foresight.
First, we were told of a rice plant, only for us to later find out that the commission and the state government were only trying to score cheap political goals.
So many publicities have been made on televisions and Radio stations about Agro initiatives in Kogi state, but none of this has ever been implemented.
There are no subsidiary loans for farmers, there are no provision of fertilizers for farmers, large scale farming are not encouraged, no form of sensitization is done to encourage farming and diversification of it across the state and most of all some of the lands and farms initiated right from the days of the Audu led government down to the Wada led government have been abandoned.
But I am not surprised, because this is exactly what you will get when some one who is Barrister is made a commissioner for Agriculture.
The ministry of youth and sport is headed by Prince Sani Ogu Salisu.
But I want to begin by asking if this ministry is a sole property of the APC, because the ministry tends to only affiliate with the APC youths.
Since it’s inception there has not been any initiative set to encourage our youths and even make them more innovative and in return contribute to the state.
Since the inception of this government there has not been a single youth empowerment scheme, not even the provision of wheel barrow or shoe mending equipments to ask for the least.
No form of skill acquisition is been promoted amongst the youth,no iota of sensitization (not even on cultism, the Abuse of drugs or thuggery that has become common).
It is a pity that such a youthful government has done absolutely nothing for the youths, rather all it does is to empower our youths with mobile phones and data to promote the administration on social media.
To me the success of every government depends solemnly on the arrow heads officiating over the commissions and with the look of things, the Yahaya Bello led government has not only been failing because of its shortsightedness, but because of its inability to get the right hands into the above commissions.
In the next edition other ministries will be critically looked at to ensure that no stone is left unturned.
– Jacob Unekwu Agada.
Author, EBULÉJONU.
Osogbo, Nigeria.
