It was a Tuesday morning on the 12th November 2013 when the sad news of death of former President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) Professor Festus Iyayi went viral.
Like a retired General specially deployed to combat a difficult war situation, Iyayi had been invited to help broker peace between the Union and the Federal Government in a face-off between ASUU and the adamant Federal Government under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the time.
About 500 kilometres to Kano where he was supposed to deliver on the clarion call at ASUU congress, his vehicle was rammed into by the convoy of Captain Idris Wada of Kogi State near Lokoja.
Described by Wikipedia as a writer known for his radical and sometimes tough stance on social and political issues who employed a realistic style of writing, depicting the social, political and moral environment and system both the rich and poor live and work in, Iyayi died on the spot. Thus, Nigeria lost one of her finest to carelessness of a reckless Governor.
Iyayi’s tragic death was one of the careless habits of Wada. It was not long before he carelessly tumbled his own convoy again and broke his legs in yet another fatal accident. Since then, the mental and physical state of Idris Wada has been shrouded in secrecy for fear that it might affect his second term bid as Governor of Kogi state. Any search on the internet basically has no viable result about a Governor that is willing to spend another four years.
It is worrisome that a state that possesses several natural resources like coal, steel and other mineral deposits can remain in a terrible economic situation as it is today. Just one among the many natural resources of Kogi was mainstay of economy of some countries elsewhere. Kogi connects the South to the North with trade and tourism potentials added to agriculture, which is predominant among the hardworking people of the state. But none of these opportunities were tapped into by the PDP government since 2003.
From 2012 to 2014 under Wada administration, the state earned N240billion as revenues from both the Federation Account and Internally Generated Revenue. The state gets N80 billion as monthly allocation and still borrowed, yet the Government of Kogi is unable to meet both infrastructural development and servicing of the recurrent expenditures adequately.
As we speak, for poor management under the current government of Kogi, civil servants in the state queue to collect only 20 per cent of their total monthly income. Yes, you get N20, 000 (Twenty Thousand Naira) if you earn N100, 000 (One Hundred Thousand Naira) monthly. If lucky enough to be on the scale of N50, 000 monthly salary, you walk home with only N10, 000; that is how bad it is.
It leaves one to wonder on the defence of Kogi government that it uses 80 to 90 per cent of its revenue on recurrent expenditures. Despite the huge sum, Kogi state continues to wallow in underdevelopment and poverty while the governor calls for N210billion intervention fund for its overall development.
A state like Kogi does not need extraordinary hand to become great. It is a state that has set itself on the footing of economic prosperity provided a good manager is on board. The battle for the soul of Kogi is not just to be left as a political contest. Kogi itself is the soul of Nigeria considering all indices. The stakeholders of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in my opinion, must help Kogi out of its current predicament of leadership deficit.
Kogi State under Governor Wada has experienced negative development with nothing to show despite the huge sums received monthly from the Federation Account and the share in oil ‘windfalls’ courtesy of the Excess Crude Account.
If you consider the unusual turn-around and developments in state like Ekiti which is also among the states with the least federal allocation, you will but agree that Governor Wada has no reason to continue to hold the people of Kogi to ransom for leadership quest. A walk around Kogi will leave you wondering that all facilities put in place by the administration of Abubakar Audu (the Lugard House, Stadium, Hospitals and more) still remain the infrastructures Kogi can boast of.
As my comrade in the state, Yahaya Wada puts it, “the forthcoming governorship election in kogi State has presented the platform for us to re-write our future and that of the children yet unborn. This is the time to judge people by their words and actions not only by mere promises even when their past actions are antithetical to their words and promises.”
Sadly, it is not unusual to see civil servants waiting at popular stop-points en-route Abuja to approach you calmly for momentary stomach infrastructure bail out. On spotting any vehicle suspected to be carrying an affluent personality who had stopped over to eat, the gentlemen would calmly approach you and reveal the critical state of their personal needs, asking for a little token to keep body and soul together. It is that bad in Kogi that many youth have no means of livelihood, a situation that has increased level of violence and criminality across the state.
Beyond politics and struggle for political powers, the people must not be put in perpetual state of unhappiness. When families cannot access basic needs of life, the family institution begins to break down; accordingly, the social security system comes under threat. Every citizen deserves the right to fair treatment by the people entrusted with political and leadership powers. If leadership is not fixed, the secondary effect of such situation is that passing through Kogi to Abuja will continue to remain a nightmare and no one will confidently recommend historic confluence for a tourist outside Nigeria.
The time to make all changes is now. The nation cannot wait. The people want change like yesterday. Carryover of depressions emanating from the misrule of yesteryear still has traces on the faces of our people.
That Kogi must be salvaged and rescued is not an issue for debate. Let fresh air coming from the waterfront blow peace and tranquillity that will not be saturated by bad policies from the Lugard house. Let the ‘Confluence State’ remain a meeting point for good economy, world class tourism and safe travel passage.
The fish should also cost less in Kogi while seriousness of the state’s Chief Security Officer should see a speedy conclusion of Lokoja-Abuja expressway with an international model. Above all, Kogi needs not be in opposition in time of CHANGE!
Comrade Yahya made revelation which I quote directly below:
“We may have waited for a long time to bring back Audu to rescue us, but it is better late than never. We may also have suffered various degrees of agony, penury and all forms of degradation since the inception of PDP led government in the state in 2003, but we now have a golden opportunity in our hands come November, 21st 2015.
“There is no doubt that the forthcoming governorship election in the state is a two-man race between the incumbent Wada and the Prince of the Niger, the man I regarded as the face of modern Kogi State. It is one thing to make promises and another to fulfil them.”
He said further: “From the foregoing, it is evidently clear that Prince Audu kept to his promises by developing the state during his time as the then Governor of my beloved state. Today after 12 years of his exit as the Governor of the state, the successive governments have failed to take up from where Audu left.”
Leadership is about delivering on promises. Words are powerful; our words are the mirror of our character and integrity.
Well, the current situation does not leave the Kogites without a choice. A walk on the streets of Kogi leaves you cracking head as to why no significant development has been recorded since exit of the Kogi Prince in 2003. Just wondering… Wada, under the PDP as the ruling party, had all equations in his favour to transform Kogi. Nigerians don’t have ample time for experimental leadership anymore as far as I know. A state going bankrupt with social-economic amenities on their knees can hardly survive under cluelessness.
Right now, the spotlight is on Kogi State. Without mincing words, that Audu/Faleke ticket will bring Kogi back to glory under the incorruptible Buhari government is a settled matter. Kogi must be delivered by Kogi because the state has sufficient men who have capacity to deliver this cause. In four years, Kogi must be playing host to all national interests and a hub for peoples’ confluence needs across the country.
Olulade is a member of the Lagos State House of Assembly, representing Epe Constituency II
