In 1999, when Bola Tinubu Of Lagos State clinched power into building a political empire, he understood the vision that could accompany the mission- development. Extensively, the financial books of Lagos State is buried in secrecy, the development indices as it relates to infrastructure is an open secret. He would design a master plan for Lagos which captures his vision for his empire, each Governor he installed after himself, had a template of Governance to follow through with. From Raji Fashola to Ambode, Lagos is moving. Wòn ni Eko o ni bajè.
It is my theory that even if the Ajekun Iya crooner born sena-dramatist from Kogi State, is wired into power like his foreign based interests-on-loan politician Hon. James Faleke is made the Lagos State Governor, performance is likely not to drop. There’s a template for governance. There is funds to prosecute that template. There’s a king that ensures the prosecution of that template. He guards it jealousy with his life.
In retrospect, that was what the “Prince of the Niger”, late Abubakar Audu would have done with Kogi State. He had the stubbornness, courage, resilience and panache that rings fear, vision and influence within the intra and inter political court of Nigeria.
Sadly, unlike Tinubu, Audu was ganged up against for taking visionary decisions that could have ensured what Tinubu is doing for Lagos. For reducing an overshot, redundant, money sulking Civil Service establishment which doubles as a Political party in the state, he was removed from power. Till date, they boast of it.
After he left power, the next Governor, Baba, allowed Audu’s visionary but tough decision to go without any state benefit. He swelled the workforce back to their boastfulness. The youths became lazy. Old lazy. Foreigners lazy. Girlfriends of politicians became lazy. Wives of politicians became lazy. Sons and daughters of politicians became lazy- ALL of them warded off boredom by holding on to the Kogi State civil service. That was how the Kogi state acquired her infamous “Civil Service State” slogan.
Monumentally fallouts in a rescind of the Governor after Audu went unabated. The next Governor according to grapevine was said to have swelled the civil service by an additional 9,000 in his last year in office. He was a generous man. He was just not generous to Kogi’s future.
One thing remained prescient: while those Governors pursued the “development” of paying salaries to a redundant civil service, Governance went on strike in Kogi state for about 13 years. It was a middle negotiation that gave achievements such as: upgrade of Kogi state university and payment of WAEC fees for a 9 year governor that gulped more than half a trillion for his years in governance. I would think the Kogi civil servants collected half. The rest might have danced azonto. The Governor after him was indeed a kind man, covering up all the years of plenty azonto dance until we had a senator who could dance at the red chamber. It was a Thespis of girnamous stagnancy. While Lagos were building schools, roads, waterways, critical infrastructures, Kogi was paying salaries to half ghosts and real people who only lived on mere existence.
On exit from service, the only succession plan left for current Governor is however “salaries”. He first inherited 3 months of areas from his predecessor. He went on to accumulate more because oil had dropped down to about $40 per barrel. Kogi got a miserable 1.7BN at some point, which cannot even service half of the about 6BN monthly running costs of the entire government.
Months later, Paris refund and bailout funds came in. The explanation for the utilization of those funds were “infrastructure”. In kindness to history, the civil service understands no other language of development other than “pay us our salaries”. It wouldn’t have mattered that in that miserable N1.7BN that came, about N800m was deducted monthly to service years of accumulated debts that all the governments in Kogi cannot explain.
That is not to say that the people of Kogi state cannot ask the current Governor what he did with their money, my own grouse is that it shouldn’t just be about their salaries.
Apart from salaries which this one inherited, like Buhari would say, “Where is the development”?
Where is the master plan for governance?
Where is the master plan for the state capital?
Where is the economic blueprint of the state?
Where is the human capital development for about 13 years of Kogi state?
Where is anything anyone can hold on to as what they left for him to build upon?
Yahaya Bello has to pay salaries. In fact, the genuine workers must receive their salaries and regularly. They will get it, oil prices are upping. The Governor has assured he would pay.
But before that, where is the template of Governance left for him to continue with?
– Promise Emmanuel (Kogi Rebel)
