To Captain Idris Ichalla Wada, Governor of Kogi State, governance is no more a “weary hill to scale”, borrowing the literary expression of Marcus Fabius Quintilianus. Now mid-way into his first term, indeed, midway into his climb, the developments on ground have reinvigorated him so much that, he can look up
with the confidence of an astute mountaineer that he will, without doubt, get to the summit of governance.
On January 27, 2012, when the Oduogboyaga-born high-flying pilot took the solemn oath as governor of Kogi State, he left no one in doubt as to his mission in governance. That day, now nearly 730 days ago, in Lugard House, the seat of Kogi State government in Lokoja, the frosty ambience within could not slow his heartbeat for his intended service. A palpable pulse that excited his visceral passion to take the people of Kogi State to great populist heights could be felt by everyone as he acknowledged that day that Kogi State was in a hurry to develop. Backed by a Think-tank he constituted to bolster his discharge of governmental duties, there has been a flourishing tempo of delivery.
In his first two years as governor of Kogi State, the A1 flight instructor took governance to optimum level by embarking on new projects and completing inherited ones. If projects are the visible evidence of performance in government, then Governor Wada’s 217 projects in just two years of governing the state are more than enough to disarm the stolid cynic.
So, in two years of his administration, Governor Idris Wada’s transformation agenda brought felt impact into the 21 LGAs of the state with the eye-popping 217 projects, according to a Government House documentary source material. The analysis of the projects showed that all the LGAs were touched and there are yet more in the pipe line.
Of these projects, water supply tops the agenda, apparently because water is life, next to air. A total of 73 water projects have been embarked upon by the governor since coming to power. Of this figure, 42 are motorized boreholes, 26 are solar-powered boreholes and five are surface water schemes. All the 21 LGAs are beneficiaries of the water projects, including further construction of the Greater Lokoja Water Scheme and reticulation of water at Emi-Dogo in Bassa LGA. The drive towards water supply stems from the prescriptions by the United Nations Organization that water is not only key to human existence but also facilitates industrial operations. A whopping N1,517,374,505 on water schemes in his first year therefore vindicates a governor who places premium on the health and wealth of his people. All the LGAs have sweet tales to tell as they savour abundant water supply.
Closely allied to water supply is the government’s expanded and consolidated health programmes for the people. No sooner has Governor Wada assumed office than he tumbled in series of free medical services for the people of the State which has continued till date. According to the state Commissioner for Health, Dr Idris Omede, about 167,000 people benefitted from the free medical services early this year. The scenario in the hospitals during these free medical services evince a people lavishly profiting from the dividends of democracy as the surging crowd nudge themselves impatiently to get registered for attention. Governor Wada, within two years of his leadership of Kogi State, has constructed new health centers and upgraded some existing ones. In order that these health institutions will not just be mere consulting clinics, he stuffed them with drugs and medical equipment like CT Scan. The HIV/AIDS scourge has been considerably controlled through the Kogi State Agency for the Control of AIDS (KOSACA). Besides, the Governor has constructed a comprehensive Diagnostic Imaging and Laboratory Service Centre, Lokoja. His immunization programme, blindness prevention, leprosy/Tuberculosis Control programmes throughout the state are among his numerous health intervention programmes.
Undoubtedly, one sector that has lavishly engaged the attention of Governor Idris Wada, is the provision of electricity to the people because power is critical to driving the economy. The state can now boast of about 58 electricity projects. In this scheme, is the provision of transformers in Adavi, Ajaokuta, Idah, Lokoja, Mopa/Amuro, Ofu, Olamaboro and Yagba East LGAs. Rural communities like Adavi-eba in Adavi LGA, Itobe in Ofu LGA, Egbeda-Ega in Ijumu LGA, Agwodaba in Olamaboro LGA among others, have benefitted from the governor’s power supply projects. Communities that enjoy electrification projects other than transformers are Dekina in Dekina LGA, Illah Bunu in Kabba Bunu LGA and Igoti in Ofu LGA, among others. The rehabilitation of Lokoja street lights, completion of the electrification projects of Ochikala, Amuna, Agbaduma and Adupi in Ofu LGA; the step-down of transformer for Isanlu waterworks, the diversion of Ajaokuta-Lokoja High Tension 33kv line are visible proofs of the success story of Wada’s Transformation Agenda.
Road projects have continued to engender intra-state and inter-communal links among the people of the state. Governor Idris Wada therefore ranked Road construction very high and has rehabilitated and constructed many roads. The Ogaminana-Okaito road rehabilitation in Adavi LGA, the Ankpa-Imane road construction, the Kabba township road construction and the Ageva-Ogori road construction are among the road projects embarked upon by Governor Idris Wada’s administration. It is no wonder that roads top the about N130 billion 2014 budget just presented before the State House of Assembly.
Education has been another key sector of the Wada’s administration. Since assuming office, Wada has always emphasised the all-importance of education. On sundry occasions, he re-echoed its significance by saying that without education he would not have been governor of Kogi State today. It is no wonder then that he has continued to accord priority to the three tiers of education and vocational training. The Governor has approved the minimum wage, which has been dragging before his assumption of duty, for primary school Teachers. Today the teachers are more motivated and are now more devoted to molding the future leaders of the nation. A lot has been spent by the administration to establish and nurture the State Vocational Institute in Lokoja in conjunction with South Korean government. The construction of students hostels in Kogi State University, Anyigba, 10-Room office block for Kogi State College of Education, Ankpa, 400-capacity lecture hall at College of Education (Technical), Kabba and two blocks of hostels, one for male and one for female students at the Kogi State Polytechnic, all underscore the prestige accorded tertiary educational institutions in the state.
To lift the state from the pathetic description as civil service state to a potentially industrialized state, the governor has set up small and medium–scale industries in the state. The Confluence Sugar Company ltd. at Ibaji in Ibaji LGA,the Kogi Cement Company at Itobe, the Cassava Ethanol project, the Geological exploration of solid minerals and the Hydrated Lime Project are examples of the governor’s dogged efforts at re-positioning the state industrially with the obvious multiplier effect of providing jobs for the state’s teeming unemployed youths.His equally dogged efforts at revitalizing the Ajaokuta Steel and Itakpe mining Companies are evidence of his determination to boost the economic and social life of the good people of Kogi State
The issue of massive unemployment has remained rather nightmarish to the governor. As a result, youth development and empowerment programs have remained tops on the Wada’s transformation agenda. Next time you visit any part of Kogi State and you see youths in spit and polish Para-military khaki wears, with ‘YAD4Kogi’ boldly inscribed on the uniforms, you need not fear. They are not militants. They are youths being braced up for the challenges of tomorrow by Wada’s youth empowerment programme through job creation schemes.
There is no belabouring the point that a motivated and disciplined workforce has been a priority area of the governor’s administration. Aside from prompt payment of salaries to civil servants their leave bonuses are also paid. It is on record that within the first month of assuming office the governor advanced a soft loan, subsidized by 10 per cent, to civil servants to own their lap tops in order to make them ICT-compliant. Pensioners have been having it good under Wada as there are no arrears of pensions. The governor is also mindful about the issue of accumulated gratuities of retired civil servants and is on the verge of resolving the age-long problem. This scenario has led to sustained industrial harmony in the state.
For Wada, the general climate of insecurity in the country should not just pass for some of those shopworn fatalistic expressions such as “it is part of our evolutional process” or “it is a common problem all over the world”. Rather, right from the first quarter, upon assuming office as governor, he resolved to tackle insecurity head-on. He put in place the Security Awareness and Monitoring Committee to sensitize and educate the people of Kogi State on security consciousness so as to create a peaceful ambience for development to thrive. The State, aside from pockets of robbery incidents which the government often quickly arrested, is one of the most tranquil states in the country. In the last two years, there had been mutual harmony and peaceful co-existence among the ethnic constituents of the state.
In order to frontally address the problem of displacement of people by the menace of Flood, Governor Wada constructed 272 units of Houses for displaced persons.
In a bid to address the habit of indiscriminate dumping of refuse, especially in the State Capital, a sanitation committee headed by the State Deputy Governor, Arch Yomi Awoniyi was inaugurated by Governor Idris Wada. Already the committee has swung into action and Lokoja metropolis is currently wearing a new look.
To achieve a holistic objective in sanitation drive in the State, government has come out with bold plans to relocate artisans to the outskirts of the town. Similarly an ultra-modern trailer park equipped with Restaurants, lubricant shops and a mega filling station is to be constructed in Banda by the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in conjunction with the State Government.
One other evident landmark achievements of Governor Idris Wada is in the agricultural sector. Apart from the purchase of Hillux bus and Excavator/dozer/harvester to the Agriculture ministry, the rice revolution programme at Okumi brought in harvest in bumpers this year. Besides, the oil Palm rehabilitation at Alloma Acharu and Kabba, the rehabilitation/procurement of plants and equipment all have climaxed into boosting agriculture and thus ensuring food security for the people.
Although there are already innumerable indices of Wada’s impact on Kogi people, his plan to explore Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement with foreign investors to establish a standard airport in Kogi will, perhaps, remain an epic achievement. It would mean that as a pilot, he came, he saw and conquered the aviation space by localizing his aviation expertise in his own state. Apart from the fact that Lokoja is close to Abuja, the FCT, an airport in Lokoja will considerably expand the social and economic horizon of the state.
Sports, tourism and social development are other critical areas the governor is focusing attention on. With an international Olympic sized stadium, the modernization and reconstruction of the Confluence Beach Hotel, Kogi State has become a haven for fun, recreation and tourism. The recent Kogi State cultural carnival opened new frontiers in relaxation not only for the people of Kogi State but for the world.
The cordiality among the three arms of government: the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary, has tautened the nexus of government and all systems go!
A highly media-friendly governor, he gives regular subventions to the state-owned media, The Graphic and Radio Kogi. In his 2013 budget speech, the governor reiterated as follows: “The State Government will continue to give all necessary support to the state-owned parastatals to enable them perform their statutory functions.” He earmarked N33.4 billion as subvention to parastatals in the state among which are the state media. But the governor was quick to warn that parastatals and government agencies would be given subventions only as they could generate revenue. This, he said, was to stem over-reliance on government subventions. The Graphic Newspaper has been empowered to fund its printing independent of Government. Also the three Booster stations in Egbe, Otite and Ochaja are being rehabilitated. The State can now boast of a standard Printing Press to effectively meet the printing needs of the State. Already, plans are on to
make the state newspaper, The Graphic, go daily while the state own television has already gone to tenders for contractors to bid.
To Governor Wada, he is in government with irrepressible determination to change the lives of Kogians for better. Undaunted by criticisms, unshaken in his belief for a holistic transformation of Kogi State, unperturbed by various challenges, his untrammeled zest for total transformation of Kogi State all combine to model him as a success-bound statesman in the mould of Mandela and Obama. He has discountenanced distractions because he is in power to make life better for others for he, himself, is already an accomplished man before venturing into politics. The governor who once said that he is the most litigated governor in the country, has been winning the cases not because there are wheels within wheels but because fate ordered it so.
If in two years, much accomplishment was recorded by the Wada administration, then the sky is the starting point for a robust turn-around for Kogi State--- a state the governor acknowledged is in a hurry to develop.
This is Wada for you, re-inventing governance in Kogi State.
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