Activist chides Bello over proposed property sales

By Oyibo Salihu
Lokoja

A Human Rights Activist and the Director of Centre for Human Rights and Conflict Resolution (CHRCR), Comrade Idris Miliki Abdul, has warned the Kogi state government against its proposed plan to sell 10 assets belonging to the state.

Miliki in a statement in Lokoja yesterday, condemned the proposed move and queried the rationale behind the proposed sales of the assets, which according to him, were built from the taxpayer’s money by the previous administrations.

“This is a government that has not built one bedroom flat in two years despite the colossal amount it has received through bailout, Parish Club refund, statutory allocation and monies collected on behalf of Local Governments through the Federation Account.

“Despite the biggest cement factory in West Africa located in Lokoja Local government of Kogi State and the natural gift of Rivers Niger and Benue from God also located in Lokoja the state capital, this government has not thought it wise to have a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the cement factory to enable it build several housing units for its citizenry,”

“These are assets that can bring in income and generate revenue for the state if it has been properly rehabilitated and put to use. This is the same government that has embarked on the renovation of Government House that has spent billions of naira and is yet to be completed in two years.

“We hope the same Government House will not be put up for sale to finance the 2019 budget before the end of the present administration. What will happen to the revenue house built by the current administration, will it also be put up for sale?

A government that is not building houses is ready to sell the one inherited. This proposed sale is one-step forward and two-step backward’’, the statement queried.

 

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