A recent press statement titled The State of Infrastructures in Kogi State is Disheartening! – Sunday Umoru dated March 30, 2018, by a diaspora governorship aspirant and chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Sunday Umoru, described the state of infrastructure development in Kogi State as disheartening. Likening the yet to be authenticated aspirant action to the Mexican Tetra, it is sad that Chief Umoru attempted to gain cheap popularity through misinformation to the public from his perspective about the newly emerging Kogi where justice, equity, fair play and true service have become the hallmark of governance for an enviable political economy.
Chief Umoru’s understanding of current development in Kogi State if not corrected, will keep him under the illusion that Kogi state consist of only Kogi East, as his entire press release was premised on an ongoing inter state road in Chief Edward Onoja, the Chief of Staff to the Governor’s home Local Government not awarded or completed as according to him, charity must begin at home.
As an interested party that is privy to the monumental effort of the Yahaya Bello New Direction Administration in the area of infrastructure and broad development, we feel compelled to educate the aspiring leader about governance, post PDP and the new direction efforts to properly align the state he, Umoru wishes to lead. While debunking all the claims by Mr. Umoru’s press release, it is our view that the aspirant educate himself on contemporary and ongoing governance issues to enable him effectively canvass for electorate’s votes who are today, the only arbiter in election matters.
From our perspective, Kogi today is more developed than it was with the past administration as recent events in the polity has proven. First was the national acceptance of the PDP (which governed Kogi State for 16 years) of blatant failure and appeal for forgiveness from Nigerians. To add salt to injury as the village saying goes, Senator Mantu admitted on National TV that he had helped to rig the PDP on, over time. Though the PDP had disowned Senator Mantu’s unsolicited apology, the damage caused by that orchestrated onslaught on the people nationally cannot be quantified. We are reaping from some of those remote actions in Kogi State that led to poor state of development in our dear state today, so how could our Chieftain turn around to accuse a corrective regime of failure from acting on such activities that were inconsequential during their reign.
The state of infrastructures today in today’s Kogi state is a direct neglect of 16 years by the PDP. This acclaimed deterioration became the major reason for regime change made possible by our late leader, HEx., Alhaji Abubakar Audu (of blessed memory) who divinely passed the mantle of leadership to HEx., Alhaji Yahaya Bello to fast track the desired change. The Change is thus, clearly spelt out in the now famous New Direction Blueprint that is anchored on the 5 main pillars Education, Health, Job Creation and Youth Empowerment, Public Service and Pension Reform as well as Infrastructure and utilities. Under the New Direction agenda, clear implementation guidelines exist for MDAs as well as well thought out funding sources which include private sector intervention, State IGR, FAAC, as well as Donor and Multi/Bilateral contributions.
Until now, Kogi state never had a long term development plan, necessary for sustainable growth and development. Don’t even attempt to speak to the last transformation agenda which though was well conceived, was also dead on arrival with no will to implement. Now, aspirant need to be aware that the Blue Print document filled that gap and has produced a secondary document in the 32 years’ state Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan? The aspirant and his party, had all the opportunities (with favorable financial inflow and platforms) to provide leadership and development, including the infrastructure narrative by him for 16 years, blew it and is expecting a government to perform magic in two years. Isn’t that preposterous and over expectant, looking back at the rejected public apology for failing Nigerians and Kogi State in particular under its watch?
Now, how could the governorship aspirant and “chieftain” of the same Party, describe the state of infrastructure development in Kogi State as disheartening?
The Yahaya Bello administration ab initio, was not oblivious of the important nexus between infrastructure, economy, social and political debate as seen clearly in its five development pillars, earlier listed. Thus, that “Infrastructure is the basic essential services that should be put in place to enable development to occur” is a gap that had been identified and a clear solution and attainment strategy identified and been implemented through a well conceived private sector intervention policy.
Though this policy was observed to be in the archive since 2o14 for a reluctant and failed administration to explore, the new Direction administration immediately on assumption of office in 2016, dusted the policy and established the institutional framework to implement the infrastructure and broad investment facilitation office for the state. This is today, creating the necessary robust economy responsible for increased IGR (from about an average 300M monthly in 2016 to over 1 Billion, today and targeting about 19B between 2016 and 2019). With the collapse of the global and nation economies leading to the recession, the New Direction Private sector and PPP policy direction was right in contrast with the flagrant abusive PDP years when everything was eaten or sleazed by the sticky hands.
Developing and financing infrastructure and thus, economic development in Kogi state can not continuously remain a rhetorical affair like Mr. Umoru’s PDP made it. That is why HEx., Alhaji Yahaya Bello early in the administration tenure, is facilitating and accelerating a private sector led economy anchored on a robust legal regulatory and institutional framework. These frameworks provide for the participation, promotion and facilitation of private sector in financing the construction, development, operation, or maintenance in infrastructure or development projects of Kogi State Government through concession or contractual arrangement; and the establishment of the public private partnerships Bureau to regulate, monitor and supervise the contract on infrastructure or development projects within the state.
Today, the economy is looking up! Kogi State can now plan its infrastructure and spending in the regard to support and provide what the Chieftain and PDP could not achieve in 16 years but are nor throwing accusing fingers and expecting magic in 2 years.
To better educate the PDP Chieftain and general public, the Bello administration despite coming at a time of the most unfavorable financial situation has performed and engineered modest achievements within 730 days. For instance, the establishment of the BP3 and the PPP policy is worthy of commendation. There is also the establishment of Solid Mineral Committee – NIREMCO, the KGIRS, The fiscal responsibility Commission, amongst others. Already, the Lands and Housing Bureau is managing the investors’ interest in lands and a functional state of the art GIS unit has been established. The absence of these bodies in the 16 years of failure, had meant serious socio-economic retrogression for the state, which our budding PDP aspirant is quick to complain bitterly about.
The good news is that the GYB/APC New Direction administration has fixed that failure and is currently yielding results amongst which are the ongoing major road infrastructure works in the three Senatorial Zones at various phases of delivery including the same Ibana-Ogugu-Ette road in Olamaboro Local Government Area, Ejule-Idah, Ankpa Abejukolo, Idah-Onyedega, Ayangba-Dekina, all in Kogi East (which is the aspirant’s strong anger). Kogi West and Central road networks are all ongoing with commissioning expected by end 2018, into 2019.
Unfortunately, the same local government area was held captive for 16 years and it took a Yahaya Bello, a non Igala leader to identify with the people’s pain by awarding the same road, and someone is here complaining on the expected completion date of the same road by a listening government. Haba! The bottom line to us, is not that the Chief of Staff to the governor, Mr. Edward Onoja hails from Ogugu, yet Ogugu has no light and has been in total darkness for years and with bad roads. That is been sentimental. Without sounding like buck passing, what role did the past governments play in the scenario, what did they achieve in 25 years?
As the Chief of Staff to Governor Yahaya Bello, the young man knows the pain and grief of his people and in two years, influenced the road construction, is providing water across hitherto deprived communities, building health care facilities, home for widows, etc., through the unique crowd and cooperative funding with his networks aside public funding. This is not a sectional but statewide happenstance. For any one that is making efforts, please, lets applaud him. He is also influencing so much to the other 8 LGAs in Kogi East, not to talk about the entire state that form his constituency. Through these and many more actions, there is a very sharp distinction between the today’s townscape and that of the last 16 years. Can we fathom the emerging new horizon with today’s architecture and building standards known only to Lokoja or Abuja?
For the benefit of hindsight, the Yahaya Bello administration in October 2016 pointedly flagged off under very hash funding constraints, road infrastructure construction projects across the three senatorial districts of the state at the cost of over N10 billion naira.
The 18.3 kilometres long road network in Kogi Central include Agassa-Ahache-Upogoro road, Ogaminana-Ebogogo road, Itape-Eika-Kuroko road and Obehira-Ihima-Obangede road in Okene, Adavi and Okehi local government area of the state at the cost of N3. 819 billion naira.
M&E visits to the Kogi Central projects to ascertain progress by the State team
The Iyamoye-Jege-Ife-Olukotun-Ponyan-Ejuku-Ijowa Isanlu roads, Ekirin-Ade-Ohun-Ifeolukotun roads addresses Kogi West at the cost of N4 billion naira.
A very active M&E team to support project delivery in line with work scope.
Kogi East includes Ayingba-Umomi-Akpagidigbo-Ugwolawo-Ajaka road, Ankpa township road, Ibana-Okpo road and Ikeje -Ogugu-Ette road at the cost of 2.84 billion naira. These projects are all ongoing exluding other efforts by the Local governments, and donor funded projects in the rural areas to open the economies for the agro revolution unfolding across the land.
HEx., Alhaji Yahaya Bello at the flag-off of the massive 10B Naira Road Infrastructure construction project in October, 2016.
The seat of government is a direct reflection of the mindset of the administration in power. Has wailing Mr. Umoru taken a pass through Lugard House since the PDP was chased out in January 27, 2018. There is a moral bit to that and we think it must be given the criticality if deserves.
Today, Kogi State government House is a reference epochal locational description that will make even the critics look the other way. Let us learn to applaud and not critique on pedestrian grounds. Kogi is for all of us but like Chief Edward Onoja, the delectable and strategic Chief of Staff to the Executive Governor often analyze, “everyone visits the hospital but you do not lay your life in the hands of your professionally incapable brother when there is a qualified but professionally and ethically suave stranger. What do you do? The alternative must be allowed to safe the situation. That is the right flank to follow. Therein lies the raison detre for “enumuneme”, “Bello Nyo tumale”, “Kogi, Sai Bello”, “Nigeria, Sai Buhari”, by the New Direction movement.
The Chief of Staff influence and strategy is yielding so much for the LG and the state in general across board, with palpable evidences that needs to feed the psychic and mind of the PDP aspirant. As is often said, “he who comes to equity,
must come with clean hands”. Chief Umoru and PDP, where are your clean hands in this matter?
Without sounding repetitive, it is necessary to remind Mr. Umoru and the PDP that “the availability of natural resources and fantastic revenue inflow during the days of PDP was sufficient to provide infrastructure development funding for the state, but was wasted as pilfering, stealing and engaging in counter productive governance strategy was the order.
Governor Yahaya Bello’s administration has deviated from this customized PDP failure template by aligning the state on an auto pilot mode for 25th century development bolstered by the patriotic and selfless determination for rewriting history. He has assembled a strategic delivery team that makes bold and proud to brag about the emerging New Kogi that is private sector driven with profound indicators exemplifying the claims.
The New Direction movement indeed, is building institutions that obviously, delivering mind blowing efforts at infrastructure development, bold enough to make HEx., The Executive Governor Alhaji Yahaya Bello, to make reference to.
Some of the necessary institutional creations of the GYB administration that are adding value and delivery to governance include:
- The now invigorated Bureau of Public Procurement (BP2)
- NIREMCO,
- the KGIRS,
- The fiscal responsibility Commission, amongst others.
- The Lands and Housing Bureau is managing the investors’ interest in lands in line with international best practice
- A functional and active GIS platform
- The brand new Kogi State Bureau for Public Private Partnership (BP3). Specifically,
- The B-P3 is established by the administration to interface between the Public and Private Sector investors
- The B-P3 has closed 8 Concession transactions in the tourism, transport, energy and housing sectors to develop, Operate, Manage the Public Infrastructures & Assets as specified above.
- Complimentarily, B-P3 procured 24 Consultants for third party concessionary arrangement to facilitate value-added revenue collection in the Environment Sector on the request of the Ministry of Environment.
- The B-P3 is expected to attract private sector investors to finance 40% of the State Budget size.
- The activities of the B-P3 is taking root with over 600 investment propositions through the solicited and unsolicited windows
- Supervisory, M&E FRAMEWORKS are in the works to ensure good Regulatory regimes in line with international and sector best practice.
- The Bureau Inspectorate Unit is being set up for activation to manage implementation challenges, including inter MDA relations, private proponent conduct as well as overlapping mandates.
These structures are obviously not identifiable by the PDP Chieftain but are mind blowing for the discerning investor who is seeking the best enabling environment to invest in. the State investment promotion agency is rearing its head and about to birth, so overall, the state’s rating on the national Ease of Doing Business index has improved beyond the inherited figures of the last administration.
In his claim also, the aspirant said “It will interest the public to know that even the popular Ganaja road in Lokoja the state capital is begging for maintenance, with untrimmed grasses both in the middle and on the shoulder of the road. It will also interest the general public to know that 90 percent of the rural areas in Kogi State are in perpetual darkness and with roads that are un-motorable. The citizens living in these rural areas suffer endlessly to survive”.
This was a major feature feature in the state capital before M arch, 2016.
A modern town planning response against what was inherited is at the point of deployment and would provide the necessary glitterati, vista and silhouette to the city ambience. These are private sector-driven interventions enabled by the GYB administration to underscore the digital advantage of the New Direction agenda. A new Lokoja, the Lokoja exchange to divert traffic from the city, huge water front development and investments in water transportation as well as other shoreline protection measures are in the offing. Except you plan, success
cannot come. The GYB administration in two years through its reengineering strategies, is gradually ensuring the private sector takes center stage in the economy and it is yielding. The Confluence Beach Hotel, Mt Patti and a 2500 units New town investments are already mobilizing to commence implementation. What manner of government in only two years could achieve these? They were very tortuous transactions but had to be executed. Is Mr. Umoru not educated on these facts before he went to the gallery with his wailing? Kogi State must get value for money and ensure the maximum impact and economic mileage for our people. The townscape will a showcase of various electronic and revenue spinning signage technology that would give Mr. Umoru, big thumbs down for the (PDP) inglorious 16 years.
Again, let us emphasize that what is good is good and what is bad is bad. It is again sad to note that a governorship aspirant that has the entire state as his constituency has admitted some warped and unverifiable criteria to form his basis for addressing such critical development issues deserving of the highest intuitive, research and data-oriented discuss. Or is he thinking of doing the mind play here? Where is his assessment of the other zones to have made such conclusive ignorant allusions?
Is the aspirant aware of the administration’s profound and on going agricultural and massive job creation and empowerment efforts,
Developing the state intermodal transportation system that takes advantage of our great location, waterways, etc?
Does he understand ongoing critical thinking on first creating the mind set for the New Kogi through strategy and implementation modeling
Does the wailing Umoru and his like appreciate that a lot of the
foundational elements for good governance are just being emplaced with superstructure juxtapositioning simultaneously happening?
Does he understand the effectiveness of imbued time and deliverables in planning, especially when “a predecessor” did not understand the concept of projectizing governance for low hanging attainments?
Let Mr. Umoru be educated, that every sector has the utmost performance mandate in the GYB administration. For instance in the energy sector, rather than rely on the power transmission companies, development and bankable studies have been completed for off grid solutions for small hydros, solar, coal to power, etc,. There are very serious ongoing sector activities by the administration energy experts and with a number of PPAs already emplace.
For the education sector, you asserted thus, “The majority of the school buildings in Kogi state are in their dilapidation state with no attention given by Governor Yahaya Bello’s administration, and the standard of education in the state is nothing to write home about. The situation has gone from worse to worst since pupils whose parents are civil servants have not been paid their salaries for many months finds it cumbersome to take care of school bills of their children, which often times result in some pupils dropping out of school. As it is right now, there has not been any major project in the education sector in Kogi State so far”.
It is obvious that the aspirant to Lugard House is being opaquely miserly with the truth here. Can he please, be educated that in 2 years, the administration is completing the New Direction schools across the three senatorial zones as well as creating model schools across the state. The sector has been rejigged to motivate and build teacher capacity for teaching and delivery for pupils and students. The Governor is personally ensuring that hostel infrastructure through public and private sector funding receive optimal attention with visible ongoing hostel projects in the tertiary sector.
Also in the education sector, the GYB administration is considering individual, community, group, and private organizations to intervene in the sector to help ameliorate some of the challenges especially in schools.
This is novel, looking at the state of the sector handed down in 2016. The private sector would assist in the area of infrastructure, library, laboratory, science and technical equipment to enhance learning, reading, technical and vocational skills of the students, while the intervention from the government would come inform of learning aides, teaching tools, training, good policy, regulation and control. Looking at hindsight, the budgetary allocation to the education sector today has been increased to double digits to enable the sector attain the 26 per cent set by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). Mr. Umoru may therefore, choose to recant his
sectional development narrative and begin to imbibe the right attitude and paradigm shift in the value system for our educational development.
“the Governorship aspirant should know that, the Yahaya Bello New Direction development strategy is working and delivering on specific areas as earlier outlined and more. It is not expected to right years of bad governance and ineffectiveness within two years. The time line for delivery, all things been equal is 2016-2019, within which period, it is programmed that the real sector which is the fulcrum for propelling growth and development for our people through sustainable infrastructure would be the the obvious reservoir for jobs and youth empowerment. This can only happen if all work together.
A permissive look at the hitherto abandoned State of the art Medical Diagnostic Center now been completed by GYB administration who believes in completing inherited and viable projects and programs. This is now awaiting Commissioning soon, will deliver a world class Diagnostic Health facility to Kogi State, the North Central and 10 adjoining states.
An agricultural revolution is ongoing with major sector infrastructure evolving like the agribusiness framework, tractorization, offtake, commodity pricing stabilization, etc and some of the non physical infrastructure that are now synonymous with the New Direction administration. With this policy comes heavy industrialization and value adding capacity development in the state as seen in the ALMOST 800M integrated rice farm and mill in Omi, Yagba West. There is a direct economic corridor established and creating thousands of job across the value chain.
From the foregoing, we do hope that Mr. Umoru and the general public are sufficiently educated that the Yahaya Bello administration performance on infrastructure development in the state is established, all within two years. The administration’s intervention is a carefully planned agenda with action plans and timelines with financing objectives and deliverables that are consistent with the real situation in Kogi State today.
Chief Sunday Umoru’s challenge to Governor Yahaya Bello to reference to the general public, the specific mind blowing infrastructure development he was talking about,” can thus be seen as an orchestrated play to the gallery by our Mexican Tetra!
There is so much going on across the sectors in today’s Kogi, that needs to be learned. Let’s all come focused, and working together as the Augean stable receives necessary clean up for our collective socio economic integrity. The time is now!
– A Rejoinder complied by Ayomide Oluseyi Alabi (Isanlu) Charles Enemali (Ogodo, Omala LG.) and Siaka Omatsehi (Ogori)
