That Bello may bail out Kogi State

After the euphoria that greeted his emergence and eventual inauguration as the Governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Yahaya Adoza Bello is gradually settling down to the business of governing Kogi state. With high expectations birthed by the New Direction agenda in Kogi State, many in the state are waiting to taste the pudding as promised […]

After the euphoria that greeted his emergence and eventual inauguration as the Governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Yahaya Adoza Bello is gradually settling down to the business of governing Kogi state.
With high expectations birthed by the New Direction agenda in Kogi State, many in the state are waiting to taste the pudding as promised abundantly in the inaugural address of the Governor.   Like the old maxim, the true test of a political leader is not how well he campaigned, but how effectively he is able to meet the responsibilities of the office.
It appears though that nothing much can be achieved by the new administration which is reported to have inherited an empty treasury, unpaid salaries and hefty debt profile of well over N50 Billion despite the shoddy job by the immediate past administration to cover up a number of domestic indebtedness.
Even with the debilitating state of affairs, which Governor Bello inherited, the administration has taking decisive steps in announcing a policy direction, which is a clear departure from the lackluster past.
Perhaps the most remarkable of Bello’s achievement in the last few weeks is his restoration of full financial autonomy of Local Government administration in the state. This means that all of the 21 Local Government Areas in the state will henceforth take full charge of financial resources of their respective local governments as allocated by the federal government. This decision came shortly after the Governor ordered reinstatement of 15 illegally sacked local government Chairmen in the state.
Apparently, Bello has activated a policy direction that departs from the old ways where the state government allegedly carries out all forms deductions from local government allocations. However, the question is how sustainable is this new direction if the large percentage of money available to the state government is spent on payment of salaries with little or nothing left for infrastructural development.
As things stand, Kogi State requires financial bail out to save the state from the transactional specter where all that is received is shared among the workforce month on month. The Kogi bailout issue has been the most controversial of all the states that applied for fund under the federal government’s structured facility to enable state governments meet their obligations due to dwindling federal allocation to states.
The Kogi State government was said to have applied for N50. 8 billion bailout fund to offset outstanding salaries and pension arrears of civil servants in the state with a repayment period of 20 years. There was also a N10 billion infrastructure   development fund, which is yet to be released to the state. The federal government is also indebted to Kogi State to the tune of over N20 billion for federal projects executed by the state government between 2003 and 2012 in road construction and the power sector.
It is time for the state government to expedite action in drawing the attention of the federal government to some of these financial obligations, which ought to have been settled before now. While the new administration is committed to exploring new ways of improving internally generated revenue to augment federal allocations, it is pertinent that whatever gaps were responsible for the delay in the release of the Kogi bailout is resolved without further delay.
Dr. Yakubu Ozohu-Suleiman writes from Mass Communication Department, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria; [email protected]