By Noah Ocheni, Lokoja
Governor Yahaya Bello clocked seven years on January 23 this year as the Governor of Kogi State with his developmental strides.
His administration witnessed speedy infrastructural development based on his selfless service and determination to yield to the yearning and aspirations of the good people of Kogi state.
One of the significant features of his administration was the bold steps taken to restructure the civil service on the state.
Governor Bello re-organised, parastatals, institutions and establishments and courageously mended the non functional civil service by subjecting every civil servants to appear before a panel of screening.
During the exercise, certificate forgers were identified, elongation of service years perpetuated by diehard civil servants were equally fingered while fraudulent ones among them were arrested.
The exercise yielded positive results as most fraudulent and corrupt civil servants were shown the way out while alot of money was realised from the ghost workers table in the state.
The major points focused by Gov. Bello are, his administration’s determination to protect the welfare and interest of every kogi indigenes and to provide infrastructural development for kogi people.
The construction of Muhammadu Buhari Civic Centre, Lokoja, by one Mr. Friday Idachaba from Kogi East, and many other local contractors were attestation of Governor Yahaya Bello’s exemplary leadership to encourage indigenous contractors.
The construction of Ganaja flyover Bridge in Lokoja, by Gov. Bello is another milestone in his developmental bid to dicongest the problematic traffic area in the state.
He also exhibited the courage and boldness to challenge some national policies and decisions which were highly commended by Nigerians.
HEALTH IS WEALTH: In his bid to improve on the living standard of the people of the state, Governor Yahaya Bello beamed his developmental touch light on health sector.
Almost all cottage Hospitals and General hospitals in Kogi state were renovated during the first tenure and given standard facelift and modern equipment provided.
The most recent of all is the Referral Hospital hospital commissioned by the former President Muhammad Buhari in Okene. It was rated as one of the best in Nigeria.
With this development, outside trips to seek for health remedy/services is now a thing of the past in Kogi.
COVID 19 Sagar: It is on record that the governor of Kogi state, Alhaji Yahaya Bello stood tall amongst his colleagues in the country during the global p pandemic.
He proved to the whole world and Nigeria in particular that most governors and ministers had a hidden agenda in the promotion of COVID-19. Either for selfish reasons or moneytory.
However, the unprecedented development springing up in Kogi at the time most leaders both in the country and globally used the COVID-19 pandemic as excuse for non performance, governor Yahaya Bello deferred the ravaging global COVID-19 pandemic to embark on development.
This uncommon development and governor Yahaya Bello’s action has left many social commentators across the states with conviction that the so called lockdown which had subjected many Nigerians to poverty was a mare child play In Kogi.
Bello frantically told his people in kogi state to go about their normal businesses and refused to lock down the economy of Kogi State.
In the area of polio eradication in Kogi state, Governor Bello has received several awards being one of the best states in polio eradication exercise.
The reason is not far from the prompt payment of counterpart funds which according to my findings, Kogi state government is not lagging behind.
It in this regards, Kogi state under the leadership of Governor Yahaya Bello was declared as a polio free state in 2017 & 2018 respectively.
It is, however, imperative that the developmental records of Governor Bello’s administration confirms that virtually every sectors in the state has been positively impacted.
Education SECTOR:
The establishment of the Confluence University of Science and Technology (CUSTEC) Osara, now a pride of Kogites is one outstanding educational landmarks under Bello’s administration.
Education is the bedrock of any development of a society. It is believed that no amount of money expended by a country or state in educating it’s populace that can be considered too much because the absence of it can be disastrous.
He made the State owned higher institutions a shinning example to other states culminated into the hundred percent accreditation of courses offered in all state owned higher institutions.
At Prince Abubakar Audu University formerly known as Kogi State University, Anyigba, the Vice Chancellor, Professor Mariyetu Tenuche said all the Forty-eight courses offered in the university have secured full accreditation from the National Universities Commission.
Proff. Tenuche pointed out that the institution emerged 25th out of the 170 public and private universities in Nigeria that have full accreditation for all courses offered.
The Kogi state Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello some times in July 2017 banned all the unions activities to relief the pains of students from Kogi State and those from neighbouring states of the federation of incessant strikes.
This good development has made higher institutions in the state the much sought for by neighbouring states as they jostle to gain admission into the State owned institutions because they are sure of the graduating year.
In a related development, the Rector
of Kogi state Polytechnic, Lokoja Dr. Salisu Usman Ogbo enthusiastically shared from the joy of full accreditation of all courses offered at the institution.
During his visit to the Commissioner of Education, Mr Wemi Jones recently, Dr Ogbo said “I’m proud to announce that Kogi State Polytechnic, Lokoja achieved 100 percent success at the recent accreditation exercise conducted by the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE).”
It is, however, noteworthy that the resounding success of Governor Yahaya Adoza Bello in education and other sectors in the state is as a result of his unflinching commitment to the development of education and other infrastructures in the State.
