spoke about power rotation, why the PDP lost the just concluded general elections, the forthcoming governorship election in Kogi State and other issues of interest. Ismail Omipidan was there .
Excerpts:
Your Excellency, by November this year, Kogi will hold gubernatorial election. Tell us the journey so far, as Kogi Governor?
I thank God for His mercies. We have been there for about three and half years now, and it is just like yesterday. The time spent so far is full of challenges. But during the period, we started on a very solid foundation of coming up with a blueprint of agenda for the development of our State, and we have done a lot by completing projects that we met that were ongoing.
And the essence of that was that, all these projects were for public good, and public money has been invested in the projects. We thought it was only proper we complete the projects so that Kogi people can reap the benefits of such projects, because leaving them half-done, having sunk some money will be a waste of money.
But after sometime, having completed majority of those projects, we then took another informed decision that we should split resources available between completing some of the remaining projects and also starting new projects. And that is the path we are continuing with. We have done a lot of work in creating peaceful environment, enhanced security for our people, and an environment where enterprises thrive, and people begin to live in peace for common purposes of development and transformation of Kogi State by its distribution of amenities and product across the three senatorial zones of the State.
We tried to also satisfy the yearnings of our people in an equitable manner, and this has helped to propel our agenda for the unity and progress of Kogi State. So briefly, this is what I can say about some of the ways we have gone so far. We did a lot of infrastructural projects, a lot of rural roads, water, electricity, hospitals projects. We focused on agriculture for job creation in rural areas because agriculture; is the way to the future. It is a way of improving the welfare of the people.
But your critics are saying that there is nothing on ground to show that you have performed, including the fact that you cannot pay State workers’ salary. What is your reaction to all these?
Well, in politics you can expect all kinds of accusations from your opponents. But let’s start from Abuja here; Abuja belongs to all of us, so any of us here can just go and verify what I want to say. If you go to the Central Business District, opposite Abia House, Abuja, we are building an 11-storey Kogi House; it is an 11-storey building. It is now on the fourth floor, we started it barely six months ago or so. It is going on, it is a solid structure, and it is something that all citizens of Kogi State will be proud of. So that is just here in Abuja. They say the morning tells the day, if we can do that in Abuja, you can just imagine what we would have done in Kogi State. Those plots were there before I came on board, but no one did anything about the place, until Wada came on board.
When you come to Kogi State, we are building a University Teaching Hospital, it is a tertiary institution, and the structure is there for everyone to see. We are also building ultra modern mega motor pack in Lokoja; it has gone to an advanced stage, hoping that in the next three months, we will be in the position to commission it.
There is a very modern Vocational Training Centre, which was built in partnership with Korean Cooperation Agency, it is a development institution. This again is on the verge of commissioning by next month. And we are building a dualised road, more like a bypass in Lokoja. So if you are coming from the East, going to the North, you don’t have to go through the city of Lokoja, you can bypass it. If you are going from the East, going to the West, part of the State, again, you don’t have to go through the town, you go through the bypass, it is a dualised road, a 16-kilometre, it is a big project. We are building 500 houses in Lokoja, but 282 of them are almost completed, and again we hope to commission them in the next two or three months. We built 272 housing units in Lokoja for those that were displaced by the flood, some of them have moved in. And we are building several roads across the State, township roads in Kaba, and other towns in the State, the roads are all ongoing.
In the Eastern part of the State, I just flagged off Ankpa township roads few days ago, already we have done Ojoku road, Okura road, Dekina dualisation road is ongoing. Several projects are ongoing, we are doing zonal hospitals, the other day I was in Ogbangede in the central senatorial district to see the progress of the work, and there are four of such hospitals in the zones across the State. There are several health clinics we have built, we have done more than 800 boreholes, motorised boreholes across the State, electrified more than 400 villages across the State, we built many health centres, schools, I cannot even count how many we have renovated or built. We are going to build more. So these are practical projects which people can see. So if my critics say I am not doing anything, they can come and see. They are practical things that
nobody can tell lies about them. Pictures they say don’t lie.
My critics should come over, we will show them. But you should not expect our opponents to praise us. And when you talk of development, it must be measured along with the resources available to the State. They talked about failed State, no, Kogi is not a failed State, we have paid salaries, every month, since I came into office, until May, 2015, and that May, 2015, we had challenges of payment when the money that came in was N2.7 billion, we needed about N3.1billion to run our State, paying of salaries and running of government, so there was a shortage.
Ordinarily, whenever we have such challenges, we take overdraft and pay. But at a point, we had to face the reality, that was when we were challenged, and we couldn’t pay for one month, and as I speak, Kogi State owes one month salary. So anybody who says we are a failed State, that person is not being factual. And it is the prudent with which we have managed the resources of the State that has enabled us to pay our salaries between 25th and 27th of every month since I came into office in January 2012. Nobody has complained of not paying of salary to civil servants in Kogi State. So I don’t know where people are getting that information that we cannot pay salary, from.
We are one of the States that has been paying salary regularly since we came into office. But the economic challenges we are facing as a nation is obvious to everyone , and I think we should be commended for the effort that is done in that regard, including our ability to carry on some infrastructure projects along this salary issue over the last three and half years.
In the April election, you lost most of the House of Representatives seats and that of the Senate to the All Progressives Congress (APC). How do you intend to re-group and strategise, so as to win the governorship election because these structures that you have lost are very key, in the governorship election?
With regard to the last General election, obviously we learnt a lot of lessons, in terms of what we should have done, what we shouldn’t have done, what the opposition did, what we should have done better. And I can tell you that a lot of studies and consultations and meetings have been going on, and we have been strategising on how to win the next election. Obviously, an interview like this is not the best place for me to divulge our strategies. So if you can kindly accept that we learnt some hard lessons, and we have taken a very concrete step to make sure that we have a better result in the coming election by the grace of God.
Are you going to contest, if yes, why? And if no, why?
I am getting close to answering that question. But I am not there yet. Once I get there, I will give a categorical answer.
Some have also said that you can’t win an election in Kogi State, because of your nature, without a killer squad. What is your take on that?
The question of my not cutting a profile of a typical Nigerian politician, I am not; I am a normal human being. Before I came into politics, I believed in fairness, justice and equity. And I treat all human beings with respect. We are all equal before God, so I don’t live the life of the larger than life some other politicians live.
Therefore I treat everyone with respect. If people say because of my gentleness and profile and my pursuit of justice and equity, that I cannot win election, if God gives me the opportunity to stand for the election, they will see the result because I believe that the God Almighty is still behind me to win election. So I don’t need a killer squad to win elections in Kogi.
Again, let me say that I have come a long way in life; I am not a very young man. And I see this job as a temporary one, four years, if one is lucky, may be eight years, and you go back to your normal life, so I have tried my best as a Governor to live a normal life, and tomorrow if am lucky to be alive, I will come back to live a normal life, so I will not allow the office to disorganise me or leave me to behave that I am bigger or better than anybody.
What actually attracted you to politics?
I came into politics to make a difference in people’s life. I saw it as an opportunity to serve the larger populace and make a difference.
Most of my life has been in the private sector, I spent about 10 years in the public service before I got into private sector. And while in the private sector, because of the so many challenges we have in Nigeria, I decided to try and run our small company in the best way possible, reflecting the spirit of one Nigeria. So in our company we have people from all over Nigeria, there was no tribalism, no religious discrimination, whoever you are, once you are qualified, we take you. And we were like one happy family, working for a common purpose of providing good, reliable airline services to our customers. And everyone in our company was charged with a responsibility and was ready to deliver services to the people. Our company was a reference point in the airline industry. So once I was able to touch people’s lives in that limited way, when the opportunity for politics came, I saw myself as having that opportunity to serve the larger mass of our people using the vehicle of politics. That is what brought me into politics.
What has been your biggest challenge as Kogi Governor?
I am here to serve, and I will do my best to serve. The biggest challenge is satisfying the number of people, so many people who want my attention, who want improvement in their lives, who want me to do one thing or the other for them. And of course, I tried my best, but generally it cannot be enough because they are so many. The resources are so limited, the opportunities are so limited. But what carries me on is my conscience, that I go to bed every day, knowing that I have done the best I can for that particular day, and I wake up for another day. So that is how I have been able to navigate through the challenges of office.
As a PDP Governor, what do you think PDP did wrong in Jonathan’s government, which caused it the election?
Look, look, there was a crisis, and PDP having been a powerful force, and people feeling that there is a need for change, there was not much PDP could have done to overcome that change mantra that was going on across the country. Everybody was charged with anger. So there was very little PDP could do, there was so much criticism of the efforts of PDP, so it was difficult at that point for PDP as a party to have done much better than it did. I think we should also commend PDP for its effort, because in the face of the environment it was facing at that time, I think the PDP did fairly well, and with time, I think PDP will find its feet and do better again in future elections.
What is your take on the clamour for power shift in Kogi State?
No particular tribe has the monopoly of leadership of any State, so I believe in power rotation, I believe it is an equitable thing to do, but there is a process. I am surprised that people always bring this point or topic up whenever we are close to an election. To me, it belittles the significance and the essence, and I think our leaders need to get together over a long period, work out modalities, work out technicalities, and work out the proper way to approach this issue, and have some understanding, if possible, agreement on how to move power rotation forward. It should not be championed by some people who are interested in governorship.
This is something about the lives of the people of Kogi State, it is not about individuals, so why do we always rotate it around individuals who come and go? This is my own view.
I believe in it, but I think, it should be properly approached intellectually, socially and politically in such a way that we have a stable way forward for power rotation.
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