THE NEW DIRECTION - SO FAR SO GOOD

BEING TEXT OF AN ADDRESS BY HIS EXCELLENCY, GOVERNOR YAHAYA BELLO OF KOGI STATE TO COMMEMORATE DEMOCRACY DAY ON MAY 29, 2017.

PROTOCOLS

On behalf of the New Direction Administration in Kogi State, I felicitate with all Kogites, and all Nigerians, on the occasion of the Democracy Day, May 29, 2017.  Nigerians have proved themselves to be true lovers of democracy. This is evident from our unwavering struggle to entrench it over the years.  I salute our resilience in the defence of our Democracy, and our courage in doing so despite disappointments and difficulties. 

We have been pursuing an ideal since May 29, 1999 when this democratic dispensation called the 4th Republic commenced. Every time we voted, we did so in search of a leader who will lead us to the Nigeria of our dreams. A succession of leaders have come and gone but even though we have been disappointed aplenty by some of them, we have never stopped aspiring to the greatness which we believe ourselves and our nation entitled. 

As God would have it, the burden of midwifing the hopes and aspirations of Nigerians fell on President Muhammadu Buhari on May 29, 2015. Since he was sworn-in 2 years ago, the President has successfully battled tremendous odds to guarantee security and destabilize corruption. His efforts towards revitalising the economy are also bearing fruit as our country climbs gradually out of recession.

We pray the Almighty God to remember our President for good, and bless him with good health and strength in his spirit, soul and body.

Here in Kogi State, precisely on 27th January, 2016, Kogites also entrusted me with the mandate to oversee their affairs for the next four years. The question now would be, ‘how far have we gone in strengthening democracy through the provision of good governance and the delivery of the dividends of democracy to our people? 

The answer for me is both simple and sincere, ‘SO FAR SO GOOD!’. 

My brief answer is because I have chosen to evaluate our performance by looking at Projects and Programmes which every Kogite can go and independently verify for himself. We have worked really hard to make a difference and bring the dividends of democracy home to our people. It has not been easy, but I am happy that with the Almighty God on our side we have made appreciable progress.

I am particularly delighted to report that in line with our New Direction Blueprint we are quickly increasing the tempo on our plans for accelerated development of Kogi State in all her constituencies as follows:

We have tamed the widespread insecurity of lives and property which we inherited. Today, the incidence of kidnapping, armed robbery and other violent crimes has dropped to almost zero.
We have changed the custom of nepotism, tribalism and cronyism which characterised appointments into government offices and the distribution of public resources in the past into a system which thrives on merit or identifiable need respectively. 

We just concluded a difficult Staff Screening and Verification Exercise to cleanse our Civil Service of ghost-workers and unintended beneficiaries. The fraud in our Payroll which nearly sucked the lifeblood out of the whole State has been exposed and halted. Now our genuine Civil Servants and Pensioners have better chances of being paid promptly, and in full every month. 

We have also completed payment of salaries, including arrears, to at least 95% of workers who were cleared in the screening exercise. I can confirm that people are still getting payment alerts as we do our best to meet the May 31st timeline which we set for ourselves to complete all payments.
We are also deploying integrated staff and payroll automation solutions to consolidate the gains from the Screening Exercise as part of our ongoing Civil Service and Pension Reforms.

We granted autonomy to the Kogi State Board of Internal Revenue and repositioned it for excellence through the recruitment of qualified staff and the construction of a modern 4-storey Revenue Building which we commenced from scratch and completed within 12 months.
Consequently, we have increased our Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) by about 300% from between N350m and N400m per month where it stagnated for many years to over N1bn monthly now, and it is still growing.

We have employed over 1000 of our citizens in the the Ministries of Environment, Justice and the Revenue Board. We have placed adverts for massive recruitment in our Health Sector and others will soon follow as part of our commitment to Job Creation and Youth Engagement.
Our strongest efforts so far are in the Infrastructure and Utilities thematic segment of our Blueprint. Numerous construction Projects are ongoing across the 3 Senatorial Districts of the State. They include:
About 16 major state roads at different stages of completion.
We are providing facelifts for some Federal Roads, notably the Lokoja-Okene Highway which had become a deathtrap long before we even took Office, but was neglected by successive governments.
We have been shortlisted for the World Bank's Rural Access And Mobility Project (RAMP) which will be constructing 500km of feeder roads across the three senatorial districts of the state.
We are currently engaged in the rehabilitation or fresh installation of over 25 electricity projects across Kogi State.

We are also constructing or rehabilitating scores of abandoned Rural Water Schemes complete with motorized boreholes, overhead tanks and multiple outlets.
We have run adverts for the construction of at least 239 blocks of 2 Classrooms, one in each of the 239 wards in Kogi State under the GYB Model Primary School Initiative.
Lokoja our state capital is wearing a new look from our aggressive program of urban renewal with sanitation, improved roads, traffic lights, water reticulation, and better security. This is being replicated in other major towns across the state.
We have worked hard to reposition Kogi State as a preferred destination for investments and the world is coming to see things for themselves.
We hosted the Ambassador of the United States of America, the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, the Head of the European Union Delegation in Nigeria, the Ambassador of the Republic of South Korea, among other notable international partnerships. We expect to reap a harvest of new investments to create new jobs for our people and boost our Internally Generated Revenue profile.
We have resuscitated the defunct Kogi Travellers as Kogi Transport Company, renamed it Confluence Express, placed it under professional management and its operations has been a delight to all its customers.

We are paying subventions to our tertiary and other institutions, and now that their lecturers have called off the strikes and our students are returning to school, we will commence the payment of bursaries, scholarships and other stipends having approved increases to all of them, some by as much as 300%!
We have also paid more attention to direct welfare for our people than any other administration before us. During each festive season, our appointees have been mandated to visit their constituencies with materials for distribution as part of our goodwill services to our people. That gesture will be repeated throughout the state today. Etc.

From the foregoing recitation, it will become clear to people of goodwill what I mean by, SO FAR SO GOOD. We cannot itemize everything we have done but the ones I have mentioned above should give any lover of Kogi State an overview of where we are and where we plan to go with this New Direction Agenda.

Of course, there are those who will dispute my assessment on the basis of irreconcilable political or other interests of their own. I will not begrudge them their opinion, but I have to strongly disagree with them. 

The New Direction Administration may be less than 15 months in Office, but we have shown our intention to serve Kogi State with good conscience and the fear of God.

We are therefore urging Kogites to judge us based on our performance, not based on malice. As Martin Luther King advised:

‘Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.’

My Administration has had the singular pleasure of having the most malicious opposition in the history of the 4th Republic in Nigeria.

Even those who dream of becoming Governor after I have done my part and moved on have developed an unholy romance with the cup of hatred and bitterness. It does not matter to them that Kogi State belongs to all of us.

It is therefore fortunate that their Animosity merely gives us more reason to work harder in order to prove them wrong.

It does not matter to them that the fire they kindle among our tribes and zones today will burn them if they ever arrive at Lugard House in the future.

They do not care that the young people they give arms today or indoctrinate with hate to make Kogi State ungovernable for Governor Yahaya Bello will become the security threats of their own period if they ever become Governor.

The only joy they know nowadays is when they can get on TV or any other media to raise false alarm that Kogi State is overrun with kidnappers, armed robbers and other violent criminality.

It does not matter to them that the Investor they scare away with their lies today is an employer of labour and a tax-player they will not have in their own time, assuming God gives them the opportunity to lead the state.

It is now a proven fact that they can have no joy in whatever does not paint Kogi State as the Hobbesian society of 'continual fear, and danger of violent death…(where) life…(is) solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.’ 

They do not rejoice at the roads we are building, even to their own country homes.

They do not share the joy of our communities at the many water projects we have commissioned, or those at several degrees of completion.

It pains them to hear of our electricity projects.

Their heart is broken to hear Labour has called off their strikes and our children can go back to schools and our people can get attention in the hospitals.

They want to die when they hear that we have concluded the Screening Exercise and have nearly completed payment of salaries and arrears because it removes the only talking point they have against us. 

Unfortunately, what they have is a lifestyle disease which no doctor can help them with unless they are willing to change. We will leave them to either purge their own consciences of evil motives, or continue to boil in their own hatred.

Today is Democracy Day, 2017. Democracy is all about freedom of conscience, thought and religion. However, I will not fail to remind the enemies of Kogi State that with freedom comes responsibility.

In other words, people are free to choose, but they must be careful to make the right choices as the Administration will not shirk her responsibility to enforce Law and Order in Kogi State.

The Administration is always open to listen and reason with those who are aggrieved with any of our decisions or actions. We only ask that they approach with honesty.

People cannot foment trouble in any part of Kogi State through Fake News, outright lies or ethnic sentiments and expect us to sit back and watch.

People cannot offer us reconciliation with one hand and try to stab us in the back when we embrace them. 

Those who have tried it in the past can attest that we confront any such attempt against the peace and security of our state with extreme prejudice. 

My dear Kogites, I believe with James Bovard that ‘Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.’ Wherever that happens, the sheep always ends up as dinner for the wolves.

I assure our people that this Administration will not hide under the guise of democratic mandate to slaughter Kogites like wolves slaughter sheep. Instead, we promise to always guide and protect our people as a shepherd leading his flock.  

I end today by urging our people to defend their democracy always. Often, the best defence is to see something and say something. Report crimes and criminality, corruption and bribery, hate speech, attempts to breach the public peace, etc to the Police or the Administration.

Remember that ‘In a room where people unanimously maintain a conspiracy of silence, one word of truth sounds like a pistol shot.’ -Czesław Miłosz

The beauty of democracy is that anyone can make a difference.

God Bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
God Bless Kogi State of Nigeria.
God bless us all.

Thank you.

YAHAYA BELLO
EXECUTIVE GOVERNOR OF KOGI STATE.