Atayi Oteh
In the recent past there were consistent media onslaught calculated to paint Kogi state government in bad light. It started with the self-righteous Kogi Elders who hardly allow the new government to settle down before venting its spleen on it.
It blamed all the decades of woes that had beset the state on the government that just came on board then. Since then, its attack has been consistent, even as the
state government has continued to maintained high level of maturity by
concentrating on moving the state on the part of development and growth. The ultimate result is the transformation the state and its people have witnessed in all sectors so far.
However another voice of decent has joined those of the elders recently from unexpected quarters. For reason which may soon manifest itself, the member representing Ankpa/Omala/Olamaboro in the House of Representatives, Mohammed Ibrahim Idris has become oblivious of the transformation not only going on across the state, but even his own backyard.
In an interview published in some national dailies, including Weekly Trust recently the member expressed his disappointment with the state of things in Kogi State, even as he described Governor Idris Wada as a non performer. Not even the on-going work in his constituency, that is, the Ankpa/Ochunobi/Ojoku/Ajobe/Okaba road that has been a deathtrap for several decades gets a mention by the member in his interview.
The road which was constructed in the early 70 by the federal government for the exploration of the abundant coal deposits in Odagbo has deteriorated overtime and has been a death trap for years, until the intervention by the Wada-led administration in the state.
The enthusiasm and accolades that the road elicit is a testimony of the suffering the people across that route had suffered as its their only link with the outside world. The honourable member’s comment is indicative of the fact that he is oblivious of the existence of that road let alone experiences its discomfort. Such roads are not for limousine, Lexus and other luxury cars that graced the member’s parking lot. He never knew the number of innocent lives lost on that road to arm robbers due to its deplorable condition.
He wont know because he has never been there; not even during the electioneering campaign during the polls that brought him to power nor in any of such backwood across his constituency because he doesn’t really need their votes to become a member any way. People like him who just got power forced on them got woken up from their slumber in their hotel rooms by the news of their supposed victory at the polls. So they don’t owe anybody anything.
It is interesting that the honourable member has suddenly become vocal. Now we will get to hear him in the hallow green chamber of the House of Representatives where he has hitherto been a bench warmer.
As a member of the environment committee, we will get to hear him canverse for the remediation of the pollution the exploration activities at the Odagbo coal site wrought on the entire land. We would be able to see him advocating for the compensation of the people who have lost their source of livelihood to the activities through several decades. The people of Odagbo should be able to see electricity; their kids whose future and home land were lost to the exploration of mineral deposit in their area should be able to benefit from a befitting school project; they should be able to have access to medicare through the citing of a hospital through our honourable member.
We should now be able to see the member fighting for ecological fund as an environment committee member to address the devastation that nature had wrought across his constituency for several decades. The Ajobe gully; the Ankpa; Offugo, Abejukolo erosion sites among others would deserve his attention.
He should ensure that the people are carried along in the exploration activities in all places where solid mineral are found and exploited across his constituency. That proper assessment is done before such activities are undertaken. The member’s schedule indeed should be a busy one and he has the opportunity of writing his name in gold through effective representation but he chooses to seek attention by attacking the governor. He who leaves in glass house must not throw stone. And he elects to do that through the wrong forum, the media, when he can articulate his point and torch lives through motions and bills on the floor of the house, where he chooses to be a silent observer.
Where was he when Ibaji was swept away by flood? He was never heard when Anambra elites connived with powerful forces at the centre to steal our oil wells. Is he aware that there is no single federal presence in his constituency? The member said he dug boreholes in “all the nooks and crannies of my constituencies comprising Anpka, Omala and Olamaboro councils of Kogi state”, but failed to mention the communities that benefited from his water for all initiative.
Are the boreholes cited within the city centres like Ankpa, Abejukolo, and Okpo or in the villages, where ordinary folks trekked several kilometers for their water needs? If the member had cited his boreholes in Ankpa then the perennial water problem the town is notorious for would have been over. Has he ever being to Ojoku, Nyologu and even Enjema; communities just on the outskirts of Ankpa town? If he is abreast with the happenings in his constituency, the above communities would have been the first beneficiaries of his alleged effort. In Ojoku, residents go as far as Ajobe, several kilometers away daily for water. Iam sure his boreholes would have torched several lives there and other areas where portable water is nonexistent. The member also failed in those interviews to say where “several schools which were made functional” through his effort are located. In a society where red carpets are laid to commission even pit toilet dug with public money by political office- holders, building and renovation of several schools by a House of Representatives member cannot go unnoticed.
The member should have known if he is really in touch with the problem of his constituency that solar street light is a misplaced priority. He should have known that several communities within his constituency are without electricity and come to think of it where are these streets that require lights? Since these projects are funded by money appropriated for them from the centre they should be those that meet communities’ immediate need, not bogus ones like street lights and ICT centres.
His proposed market projects for his constituency are laudable but he should go a step further. Most of the traders within the axis are petty ones and deal mainly in farm produce which sources are subsistence farmers. These farmers need support to be able to feed the proposed markets with their produce. The farm lands have lost their values due to overuse and since fertilizers are beyond farmers reach they get little for their efforts. Getting these products to the available markets is also difficult due to access road. These areas the member
can intervene. Emphasis should be on cash crops, instead of traditional grain that have made them poorer over the years. Palm plantation should be encouraged through an articulated programme. The state government has since commenced in some locations in the state. All it requires is a little push through collaborative effort by all stakeholders. Our teeming youth can easily key into the project through a systematic empowerment programme. Also skilled acquisition centres should begin to spring up at all corners to make the youth productive and independent. That way the member don’t need to go home with his millions and return to Abuja empty handed as he complained in his interviews.
As Wada makes haste slowly to develop the state, all we can do is to support instead of distracting him. He had started well through investment in human capita development. More than 200 projects cutting across all sectors were so far initiated by the governor in last two years. This is a commendable feat as we look forward to more initiatives that have direct bearing on the lives of our people.
Atayi wrote in from Ankpa, Kogi State.
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