A BROADCAST BY HIS EXCELLENCY, GOVERNOR YAHAYA BELLO OF KOGI STATE TO THE GOOD PEOPLE OF KOGI STATE ON NEW YEAR’S DAY, 1ST JANUARY, 2022
My dear people of Kogi State,
1. We celebrate the divine gift of life as we bid 2021 goodbye and welcome 2022. We thank God for navigating us through a year which tried the courage of many individuals and the resilience of practically every nation on the earth.
2. The last 12 months have been challenging – for the world, for Nigeria, and for us in Kogi State. The battles we have fought and the victories we have won do not speak of our own wisdom or power but of the mercy and compassion of the Almighty God, to Whom be all the Glory.
3. Like the year 2020, 2021 found itself in the shadows of the Covid-19 pandemic. Everything from international travel to national economies continue to be adversely impacted by the genuine efforts, but also by the uncertainties and yes, shenanigans, around the disease.
4. As of today, scientists and world leaders are reworking their responses to Covid-19 as the world learns more about how it mutates and spreads. Not surprisingly, at least to me, much of the new knowledge continue to affirm positions I have adopted from the beginning.
5. In the face of conflicting information about the disease, the Kogi State Government that I lead chose early to keep an eagle eye on the CASE FATALITY RATE of Covid-19 more than any other epidemiological event or data set associated with it. We also do same with each variant. This helps us to determine quickly how worried we should be for our people with each variant. Once we know the likely fatal impact, we are then able to make intelligent governance decisions on how to respond to it.
6. We are then able to compare and contrast this information in relation to the threats posed by perrenial killer diseases in our society such as malaria, cholera, lassa fever, yellow fever, meningitis, etc. It becomes easy after that to allocate resources appropriately towards each public health threat confronting us.
7. So far we have found no reason to believe that the kill ratio of Covid-19 which currently stands at 1.39% in Nigeria is evolving into deadlier numbers than those of the other diseases we have to grapple with too. In fact, Dr. Ifedayo Adetifa, the Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) confirmed again this month that Cholera had claimed far more lives in Nigeria in 2021 than the dreaded coronavirus pandemic has been able to do since its advent.
8. Given this information and the need for us to protect ALL of our people against ALL threats, as well as the competing demands on our scarce resources, we frankly cannot in good conscience justify spending more on Covid-19 than cholera, malaria, or any of the childhood killer diseases.
9. By distancing ourselves from the mass hysteria in this way we have been able to keep a cool head and confront the pandemic without fear. The result is clear – Kogi State remains safe. Our public health institutions are in a permanent state of heightened vigilance but our society is open for life and business to go on. Our people are also free to come and go while observing appropriate public health and hygiene protocols, especially those that engender protection against diseases generally and improve the overall wellbeing of the general populace. This is why we continue to sensitise against open defecation, production, sale and consumption of unsafe foods and disregard for appropriate postures or covers while sneezing or coughing.
10. Today, global expert opinion is swinging towards allowing populations and governments to have more elbow room in deciding how they will respond to the covid pandemic. I can say that in this regard Kogi State has been an outlier in Nigeria since the pandemic began and we intend to keep it so. You, our dear people, can continue to trust us to keep monitoring the evolving situations closely, with an eye on the science while allowing common sense to guide us in your overriding best interests. We will also continue to keep you updated with the right information, and when necessary, effective advisories.
11. In 27 days’ time we will step into the 7th year of our exciting journey in this New Direction. For each and every one of those years, I make bold to say, we have made consistent progress towards sustainable, verifiable and replicable results. Every year we have reached for new altitudes in governance and established fresh attitudes in leadership in pursuit of our electoral promises to you. Today, our results speak louder than ourselves.
12. When we emphasise the successes of our response strategy to Covid-19 as I have just done above, we do so as part of accounting for our overall achievements in government.
13. Our best value has always come from putting our people and the things that are important to them first. In our effort to do more of this we made Education, Health, Infrastructure and Utilities, Job Creation and Youth Engagement, Civil Service and Pension Reforms, Agriculture, Security, as well as Cooperation and Integration among all Nigerians in our state our expanded thematic focus in this second term.
14. Generally speaking, we have been spectacularly and successfully busy in the health sector, way beyond Covid-19. In our first term we constructed, renovated or equipped hundreds of Primary Healthcare Centres across the state, with a good number of them fitted with solar lighting facilities to ensure that they can operate by day and by night.
15. Continuing into this second term we have been upgrading secondary and tertiary healthcare infrastructure across Kogi State. Some of our enduring legacy efforts in this area include the construction of a 300-bed Reference Hospital in Okene. When completed it will have ultramodern equipment for diagnosis and treatment of most diseases occurring in our society.
16. We are also renovating and remodeling the Specialist Hospital, Lokoja including the construction of a brand new administrative block. At the same time we are building brand new General Hospitals in Badoko, Ajaokuta LGA and Gegu Beki in Kogi LGA.
17. We are also constructing a new clinical complex in Prince Abubakar Audu University Teaching Hospital, Anyigba as we rush to start a medical programme in the school.
18. In addition, we are constructing an advanced clinical complex in the General Hospital, Isanlu simultaneously with comprehensive overhauls of the Zonal Hospital Idah and Adavi Eba Cottage Hospital.
19. So, as you can see, we are not talking covid for lack of any other achievement, but as a necessary corollary to all we do to secure the healthcare and wellbeing of you great people of Kogi State.
20. As a government, my New Direction Administration is second to none in probity and accountability in today’s Nigeria. We set out to establish a fiscally responsible government and I am glad to say that we have done so. We institutionalised zero tolerance for opacity and corruption in office and we have formal and written recognition from credible bodies like the World Bank, to show in this regard.
21. Also, our anti-corruption credentials continue to be put to the test by a succession of naysayers acting in political opposition and with malicious intent. It is such a crying shame that they often choose to do so with puerile and totally unfounded allegations, but we are glad that the harder they come the harder they fall for want of any truth to their allegations.
22. You have certainly been following the news so you know that we have recently been called to account over N20 Billion Naira allegedly diverted out of the bailout funds approved for the state.
23. It is however curious that they are not even accusing us of stealing the money but of putting it into an interest yielding account. Assuming that this is true (and it is not), they are yet to explain how that is a crime if we are not owing our workers the salaries and pensions the money was meant settle. Even the allegation that part of the money has been withdrawn, which allegedly prompted them to approach a federal high court to freeze the balance in the account, says nothing about where the money was moved to, or to whom. In these days of electronic banking, that is just plain incompetent. The entire comedy of errors is so childish it can only happen in fantasy and falsehood.
24. Let me repeat, the Kogi State Government does not have any unutilised billions of bailout funds hidden anywhere. Organised Labour in Kogi State was part of every step of the receipt and distribution of bailout funds and they know we disbursed every tranche we received the same day or within days of getting it. We also took many pages of newspapers to publish the schedule of payments to beneficiaries – and not one person has disputed it over the last 3 years. Not even our present accusers have said that list was fabricated yet they continue to look for the living among the dead.
25. Let me report to you that we have gone to court to prove that like in previous instances with other accusers, our present accuser is lying. Kogites can rest assured that they will pay a heavy price for impugning the integrity of the Kogi State Government. This is no more just about me or any political ambitions I might be suspected of nursing in future, but about my state and of course Nigeria as a nation. Oversight functions should never be allowed to turn into overreach. Also, the credibility of a key federal agency must never be dragged in the mud to service the selfish interests of those at the helm of it per time. I will not stop until Kogi State has received a retraction and an apology with damages paid.
26. You can also take my word for it that we will not be deterred from running the government with the award-winning transparency and accountability which we have operated hitherto. We will continue to prioritise the welfare of our citizens in general, including our workforce. We will continue to drastically reduce the cost of governance, even as we continue to increase revenue across all traditional sources while introducing innovative strategies for greater generation.
27. My dear good people of Kogi State, the security of your lives and properties remain our top priority. You already know that we invested heavily in security right from our first term. You also know that we have built a formidable security architecture, with manpower that stands battle ready to combat all threats to your peace of mind. I can assure you today that we are not going to relent in sustaining and strengthening what we have built for Kogites in the area of security.
28. Our resolve in this regard was put to the test again on Tuesday 14th December, 2021 when a gang of ill-advised armed robbers numbering about 30 decided to hit 2 banks in the Okun axis of the Kogi West Senatorial District.
29. While they were able to pull off the robbery using the element of surprise and their huge numbers, they were not able to escape with the loot. Our combined team of security agencies, vigilantes and hunters quickly mobilised and gave chase. After hours of engagement we had them boxed into a small forest area and fully encircled.
30. I personally coordinated the operations in real time from my command centre in Government House. It took us several days but to the glory of God we have arrested about 20 of them and recovered some of the stolen money. We are also hot on the trail of the remaining members of the gang and we are in possession of useful information that will lead us to smash the multi-tribal syndicate once and for all.
31. I urge every Kogite and resident to volunteer information at their disposal which may help us in arresting and prosecuting the remnants of these daredevil robbers and bandits, including their sponsors and other accessories. Remember that security is everybody’s business.
32. In addition to all that we are doing in the health sector listed above, we continue to make great progress in the development of infrastructure and utilities in all constituencies of the State. On the 23rd of October, 2021 we completed work on the 55km Anyigba – Ejule – Umomi – Ugwolawo – Ajaka – Idah road in the Eastern Senatorial District. It joins the Ganaja Flyover and Interchange, the Ankpa, Lokoja, Okene and Kabba Township roads, along with many other road and projects across all sectors in the 3 Senatorial zones, to bear eloquent testimony that 2021 was indeed a watershed year for physical and engineering development in Kogi State.
33. In 2021 the Confluence University of Science and Technology, Osara held her first matriculation – less than one year after we established it from scratch. We had earlier secured full accreditation for our School of Nursing at Obangede. In 2021, the College of Health Sciences and Technology, Idah also held its Convocation with all courses fully accredited by the various regulators – for the very first time after four and a half decades of existence.
34. In the same year 2021 the Prince Abubakar Audu University, Anyigba was among a cohort of only 25 private, state and federal universities in Nigeria to receive full accreditation from the National Universities Commission (NUC) for all courses offered. This is an educational milestone that the bulk of the 170 universities in Nigeria are yet to achieve including some which are many decades old.
35. These achievements are proof of our ability to confront difficult times and situations with foresight and courage in fulfilment of our resolve and promise to ensure accelerated and proportional development of the State during our time in Office.
36. 2021 saw us remain strong as in previous years in providing security, unity and peace for our people despite increasing constraints of finances and other resources. Among the many tribes in our state we ensured unity in diversity.
37. Let me warn at this point that while we are willing to let tribes and individuals exercise their constitutional rights and liberties we will not let tribal agitations lead to a breakdown of Law and order. Every tribe in Kogi State has kith and kin in other states and are free to associate with them without threatening the territorial integrity or societal harmony we enjoy here.
38. In particular, those individuals and organisations contriving an identity crisis among our beloved, peace-loving and industrious Bassange people of Kogi State in a so-called search for a Nupe identity that was never lost should be warned that our eyes are on them. Their activities have started to threaten the peace and security of the State and I am warning them to be well advised. We shall not hesitate to bring the heavy hand of the law on them if they continue.
39. My Administration is very committed to Affirmative Action among the genders and for persons with special needs. We have worked assiduously to sustain equity for the marginalised, vulnerable and excluded. Kogi State is today recognised, and as long as I am the Governor she will continue to be so recognised, by the United Nations, the African Union, the National Council for Women Societies and many others as a pacesetter in overall inclusiveness. We shall not relent. In fact, if God is merciful and grants us our objectives in the near future, the rights of all citizens, especially women and girls and persons with special needs, will always be on the front-burner for me and any government I lead.
40. Nigeria is the trigger of Africa and if Africa must free herself from neocolonialism Nigeria must stand up and take her place of leadership on the continent. Kogi State is Confluence of Nigeria. This is why we have worked over the last six years to turn our state into the nation’s emerging paradigm for Cooperation and Integration as a basis for citizens’ co-existence instead of the previous divide and rule tactics which have failed us in our past. It is a paradigm we hope to expand and export to the larger Nigerian society as we march into the future to build an increasingly peaceful and prosperous Nigerian society.
41. Thank you dear Kogites for your tenacious belief in and support for our leadership. You make us confident that our New Direction is also the Right Direction.
42. I congratulate every single person who has seen this new year 2022. I pray that it becomes a year of increase in productivity and of promotions for all of us, our dear state, Kogi and our country, Nigeria.
43. May you have a bright and prosperous 2022 New Year.
44. Thank you and God bless.
YAHAYA BELLO
Governor of Kogi State
