By John Ikani
Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello, has described his state as the safest and most peaceful in the country.
The governor who stated this in commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the creation of Kogi state, said his administration took the security, unity, peace and prosperity of the people seriously right from inception.
“Today, our state is arguably the safest in the entire country, we are rated the second most peaceful and our crime rate is second lowest. We have a hugely diverse population that is nevertheless more united now than at any time in our history.
“By aiming at targets we set in our New Direction Blueprint and allied governance roadmaps, we are crushing our goals in reduction of the Multidimensional Poverty Indices here in Kogi State while keeping pace with the five thematic areas we adopted from the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),” Governor Bello stated.
According to him, Kogi had managed the triple mechanism of blocking loopholes/theft, eliminating wastage/loss and proper prioritisation of expenditure to make each naira and kobo earned go much further than anyone believed possible.
He said, “In between the two terrible recessions mentioned above, the Covid-19 pandemic arrived like the grim reaper from the first quarter of 2020 and began to wreak havoc on mankind. It continues till today. This controversial phenomenon impaired governance around the world and by means of lockdowns and adverse restrictions which it engendered managed to frustrate service delivery to citizens around the world, Nigeria and Kogi State not exempted.
“However, with regard to the Covid-19 pandemic, we proved to the world that with the help of God, support of the citizenry, leadership sincerity and a ton of political will it is possible for science and common sense as well as good governance and medicine to work together in the service of humanity.”
He concluded by saying that at 30, Kogi is becoming the emerging paradigm for Cooperation and Integration as a basis for citizens’ co-existence, instead of the previous divide and rule tactics which failed politicians and harmed citizens in time past.
