My govt is building a greater Kogi – Gov. Bello

Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State has assured the people of the State that his administration is working towards ensuring that the State ranks among the best in Nigeria.

The Governor who disclosed this while addressing a group of investors in Lokoja said he will not be deterred by those who are resisting change in the State, urging the people to remain steadfast as his efforts will soon transform into “positive results”.

Bello said his administration is poised to deliver on its promises as contained in the New Direction Blueprint.

He said: “A number of investors have started Operations in Kogi State and we are expecting a good number of others to come and invest in our State to create jobs and prosperity. We are the mineral capital of Nigeria and my administration will ensure the State taps into this stupendous advantage for progress and development.

“I wish to thank the international community for believing in Kogi State; for believing in our dreams and for their readiness to partner with us to take the State to new heights. With the abundance of mineral resources in Kogi State, we shouldn’t have had anything to do with poverty.

“Poverty of ideas is worse than poverty of resources. My administration will match ideas with our resources to make Kogi State better”.

He assured the civil servants and pensioners of his administration’s readiness to clear their salaries and pensions arrears before the turn of the year, saying the delay was as a result of the collation of reports by the screening committee.

“We have made salary payment a continuous process. Those who have been certified to be genuine workers will continue to receive their wages until we are able to defray all their arrears. Pensioners will also be receiving their pensions as my administration hope to defray all salary and pension arrears before the end of the year. A good number of workers that have been cleared as well as pensioners have been paid. But we shall not rest until every genuine worker or pensioner is paid.

“The rot in the system is humongous. The report will shock our critics. But what is paramount to us now is for all genuine workers and pensioners to receive their pay and have food on their table.

“The reports are being processed by some professionals. At the end of the day, we would have achieved our aim of stopping the flow of our resources into unintended pockets,” Bello added.

The Governor urged the people to key into the agricultural policies of his administration to reduce the level of poverty in the State. He said his administration is determined to make farming viable and less stressful to encourage youth and women to key into the sector.

He said the 2017 Budget which will soon be presented to the State House of Assembly will help achieve The New Direction goals as it will contain “low-hanging fruits as well as long term development plans”.