As there are epoch so are there individuals who also define the times. Once upon a time, there was the individual revolution in Britain which began in the 18th Century and marked a turning point in the use of machines in production. This era consequently enhanced living standard of people.
Also the 14th Century renaissance was a cultural cum knowledge driven revolution in Italy. It marked another epoch which was defined by the phenomenal rise in intellectual pursuits and artistic developments.
There was also the media revolution, an age that birthed instant communications, with the debut of the CNN, Aljazeera, BBC etc and internet. In this era, national boundaries and geographical distances meant nothing and it never count.
In the football world, individuals also had their times. We had the Pele, Maradonna, and Messi generation. The same could also be said of Mohammed Ali and Mike Tyson’s life time. These individuals had their defined times amidst great other individuals.
In leadership for example, Lee Kuan Yew was credited for moving Singapore, a poor nation with no natural resources from a third world nation to a first world. Similarly, the Western, Northern and Eastern regions of Nigeria had their epoch under the Awo, Saduana and the great Zik. These were leaders whose works made epoch in their lifetime.
Time and space would certainly not allow the mention of more era’s that were indeed glorious era’s that remained indelible in the minds of history. Today, the administration of Captain Idris Wada as Governor of Kogi State is an era in the anal of the state’s history as it is daily breaking new grounds and opening new frontiers of development.
Beginning with Agriculture, The administration has repositioned the sector by making it not only attractive to the youths, the State has caught the world’s attention as a potential food basket and melting point for agro- allied industries, thus attracting the presence of. The Federal government and other world organization to the State.
In the area of infrastructures, the administration has scored a first as one that completed all inherited projects. For example, the Confluence Beach Hotel, Stadium, State Secretariat Phase II Complex amongst others were completed by the present government. Ordinarily, the millions of naira spent on these projects would have gone down the drain if Captain Idris Wada were the usual Nigerian administrator who believes in abandoning predecessors projects.
In the area of road infrastructure, the administration inherited 36 road projects and completed them. It equally began work on virtually all township roads in the twenty one LGA’s. It is also to the administration’s credit that it has opened up a new Lokoja town through the ongoing construction of the 16 km Otokiti bye pass. The administration is presently dualising the major arterial road that passes through the State capital among several other road projects in that sector that are on-going.
In the health sector, it is to the credit of this administration that the General Hospitals across the 21 Local Government Areas are all being renovated, while new Hospitals are also being built. So much progress including the recruitment of health personnel has been recorded in the health sector. Some other efforts in this sector include the completion of a diagnostic centre, establishing a state teaching hospital and the equipping of the state specialist hospital, colleges of nursing just to mention but a few, have been achieved. Little wonder the state won top position in polio eradication and other communicable diseases in the country recently.
An administration that is committed to building a noble, strong and united Kogi State, Education has remained a top priority in it front burner. With the employment of 500 teachers aside the several employment of other indigenes in the core state civil service, there is also the building of hostels in all its tertiary institutions, renovation of some Iconic Secondary schools across the State as well as massive rehabilitation of secondary and primary schools. The present administration without mincing words has shown serious commitment that has left no one in doubt that it is concern about equipping and preparing its younger generation to compete favourable with their peers across the globe in the future.
The Wada administration in Kogi State is one that has equally placed Rural Development atop its priority. The establishment of a Ministry for Rural Development is a testament to that fact that it is an administration that is grassroots friendly.
The Ministry of Rural Development aside opening up rural roads, sinking of bore holes, and provision of electricity to communities that have hitherto remained in darkness since the creation of the State, like Oguma, in Bassa LGA, by reason of the governor’s effort, most rural communities are beginning to have the resemblance of urban centers, thus checking rural urban migration.
An administration that abhors violence, the state is now relatively safe to live in. Without controversy, Kogi State still remains the safest place in Nigeria to do business little wonder, the number of investors who daily come to the state seeking to sign MoUs. At the last count, over fifteen MoU’s that has improved the socio-economic well being of the state has been signed with reputable organization’s at home and abroad.Kogi State under Capt Wada has become the number one destination point in Nigeria.
Youth restiveness and political violence which used to be the order of the day has been drastically reduced and curbed by the present administration. This feat was achieved partly with the employment of over 10,000 youths under the government’s youth advancement programme (YAD4KOGI).
In the Transport sector, Captain Idris Wada, established a subsidized transport system, first of its kind in the country, using the subsidy reinvestment and empowerment programme funds. Arrangements have also been completed to flood the whole state with intra-state mass transit buses under a subsidized transport scheme.
The State until the present administration was not listed on the Nigerian stock exchange. But through a bold and enterprising initiative, the State’s shares, due to the purpose driven leadership of Captain Wada, is now a hot cake, and sought after by investors.
Amidst acknowledged dwindling resources and without any financial intervention since the coming of the present administration about three years ago, Captain Wada is acknowledge to have met the yearning and aspirations of the good people of the state, based on the blue print agenda he put in place since his assumption of office.
This is reflected with the on- going construction of 500 Housing unit in Ganaja and Crusher areas of the Lokoja, aside an initial 270 post floor housing estate, the on-going construction of Kogi House in Abuja, and other completed offices and residential complexes that abound the state, the State Governor has made a remarkable progress in housing infrastructure development.
That infrastructure development is critical to achieving development in any society cannot be over-stressed. Without mincing words therefore, the bold steps taken by the present administration in Kogi State has demonstrated its sincere resolve to tackle the issues of decayed and none existing infrastructure in the state holistically.
Having made giant strides amidst challenges faced government in the country, it is therefore not out of place to conclude that the transformation agenda of the Wada led administration should stretch beyond 2016 in the first instance.
Deliberately, the world now reckons with Kogi as a state whose management is becoming progressively more sophisticated. This can be better testified by the acceptance given the state at the Nigerian stock exchange as well as by other certified management and accounting organizations at home and abroad when transparency, accountability are mentioned.
Remarkably, Kogi State Government under Captain Wada, despite the huge workers wage bill that nearly consumes the meager allocation accruing the State monthly, it has continued to perform its statutory obligations on all fronts, irrespective of increased modern day challenges associated with governance.
This feat by the present government is been made possible by the enhanced transparency, resource management and a renewed effort geared towards an increasing urbane and transparent administration, favorable to increasing private sector partnership in the state, a critical driver of the Captain Wada administration.
The phenomenal rise of Kogi in the world’s ranking is an era that must be appreciated especially that we live in a clime where it is after leaders or individuals are long gone that references are made about them and their efforts.
That a recent survey put the general opinion in Kogi State as a state that will be great as well as the envy of other states in Nigeria if the scale of infrastructural development as currently witnessed under the present administration in the last three years can be sustained and continued, therefore puts the clamour for continuity an answer the governor must answer by accepting to run.
While it is a known fact that some persons for political and personal selfish reasons have over the years never seen any good in the present administration, they also do so because they have found out that governance in the state is no longer business as usual. Such people are most times those who resort to launching media attacks and using other forms of propaganda against the Wada administration, which has however not distracted the growth in leaps and bound witnessed in the state.
Going by the consensus across the state, sustaining the Wada policies for another years in the state is certainly what the state needs so as not to return to its inglorious past, a past where anything goes; God forbid it is not a portion for the State again. Having resolved, the Capt Wada era that is forward ever and backward never should continue to remain the slogan, so that the present era in which we see a promising future will be one that would be positively talked about by the future generation .
By Abu Micheal.
Abu Michael, is Chief Press Secretary to the Kogi State Deputy Governor.
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