Forum urges Kogi Governor to address dilapidated infrastructure

By ABDUL OLALEKAN

Nigeria’s Country Director, the Nigerian London Business Forum (NILOBF), Professor Chris Onalo, has charged the Governor, Kogi State, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, to address the dilapidated infrastructures in the state.

Onalo, who gave the advice, in a statement made available to Business 247 News Online, noted that the dilapidated and deplorable conditions of roads, houses and streets as well as extremely ugly looking city roundabouts, call for urgent attention of the current government, believing the  Yahaya Bello-led government is capable of addressing this infrastructural challenges.

While stating that the government was already making a commended start to his tenure, he urged him not to rest of his oars until all the state’s challenges are addressed.

According to him, “There is no doubt, he has made a good start; he has made a profound statement to the effect that his administration will not toe the part of the past leadership of the state. When I asked some people about the ‘purchasing power’ of the state indigenes, the response I got was ‘things are looking a bit better as the new government has paid a large chunk of arrears of workers salaries’.”

He urged the political leadership in Kogi State to go all out and bring back home the large number of Kogites in Diaspora who are really in vantage positions to assist their own government in its development agenda.

Believing that the government of Kogi possesses characteristics that can raise economic and intellectual power of Kogi State to an unprecedented level, he called on Bello-led government to target the functionality of all federal projects in the state, including Ajaokuta Steel Company which has capacity to trigger different denominations of commercial activities as well as warming seriously for the reality of exposing the much speculated rich oil deposit in Ibaji area of the state.

Advising the incumbent government to brain storm with people and come up with implementable policies on agriculture and solid minerals development in the state, he said identification of relevant infrastructural projects and smart sourcing of fund by the state government to finance them are essential to realise these initiatives.

“Certainly, the leadership challenge in Kogi State today demands that conscious and determined effort be channelled towards attraction of commercially sensible national and international equity investments both at individual and institutional levels in order for the government to generate enough revenue to complete the dwindling revenue transmitted from the national federation accounts,” he pointed out.