It is time to do away with political sentiments. It is time for us Kogites to think collectively about the future of our state. It is time we put the right peg in the right hole. If only we can challenge the future by making all we know is right to be right, then the future will not only be assured, but the assurance given after working for the brighter future will be assured. Not all Kogites got the assurances that the present administration in Kogi state will perform beyond expectation, but all just wished we have a change of government, all are clamouring for a new dawn for our dear Kogi state in the November 6, 2019, governorship election in Kogi state.
Just last week, Prince Yahaya Odidi Audu picked the All Progressives Congress (APC) nomination form for the Kogi state gubernatorial race, putting to rest the earlier speculations that the London trained seasoned accountant may or may not be joining the guber race in Kogi state.
Today, our people are proud with the entrance of Prince Yahaya Odidi Audu into the race because it signifies the end of an era and the end of an error in the ruling APC. The Kogi state people have passed through the wilderness in the past four years of the Bello administration.
The coming of Audu also signals the beginning of an era in which the transformation of the state will be assured.
This is a man who has signaled to the state that because of what our people have gone through in the wilderness in the past four years, he will introduce a social security scheme for the people. According to him, the scheme will enable the people, especially the senior citizens who are basically the principal focus of government, to receive stipends to take care of themselves.
Although Kogi state today is owing about N200 billion in loans specifically taken by this administration, but this challenge won’t hinder the development plans of the state because unlike the present administration, Prince Yahaya Audu is prepared for the job.
With Prince Yahaya Audu as governor, never again will pupils in public schools pay taxes as witnessed now in the present administration.
While Audu is not coming on a vengeance mission, he has consistently stated the importance of reviewing all documents to know the exact financial status of the state and make his findings known to the people within 100 days of his administration. What a way of making open governance in our state a reality. The Kogi governorship hopeful will make the payment of owed salary arrears to all categories of workers in the state a reality; a departure from the selective payment even with the full payment of the requested bail-out funds to the state by the federal government.
In recognition of the known fact that Kogi state has arguably recorded the worse performances yet in terms of provisions of infrastructure, welfare to workers, and general governance in the present democratic dispensation that has retarded our growth and development as a people,
Prince Yahaya Audu sees his incursion into the guber race as a call to service for the sake of our people. He is convinced that his developmental plans for Kogi state will rebuild the foundations necessary in making the state truly great.
The governance focus of the Audu administration, if elected, will be anchored on four pillars through wish he shall deliver his promises to our people. The four pillars include social investment, knowledge economy, infrastructure and industrial development, and agriculture and rural development.
Delivering qualitative healthcare is also going to be a priority for his administration. He will ensure that hospitals in Kogi state are once again well equipped and functional to attend to the needs of the people.
In the education sector, the governorship hopeful knows that Kogi people love, seek and celebrate knowledge. He will want the state to have the highest number of professors and academic pioneers per capita in Nigeria. Audu wants many of our people to be leading lights in every field of human endeavours as well as those who are at the frontiers of research in the academia all over the world. For him, it is therefore a logical choice for Kogi state to turn to the field of knowledge as a primary product in which the state can in future trade successfully because to survive and strive in the 21st century global economy, Kogi state must be committed to using its brilliant minds to promote sustainable development.
Audu will also pay attention to fields such as teaching, research, skills acquisition, creative arts, strengthening our tertiary institutions, and entrepreneurship. To achieve this, his administration will create the Kogi knowledge zone in order to establish critical linkages in knowledge economy. The advancement of the economy of Kogi state is critical and pivotal to the creation of wealth and jobs for the people of the state. This is also relevant to the poverty reduction and revenue enhancement mission of the Audu administration, if voted into office. In order to fenhance the economic and industrial revolution of Kogi state and the commitment to job and wealth creation policy of his administration, Audu will revisit the commercial and technical viability of abandoned projects and schemes in order to resuscitate them. These include the vast networks of roads and tourism assets, etc.
Kogi state is essentially an agrarian society with soil properties conducive for growing a variety of food. In order to achieve sustainable food security, create employment and foster agro based industrial development for poverty alleviation and wealth creation, the approach must change from the present focus on farming and agriculture as government social services to commercial and private sector driven services called agro business in Kogi state. The Audu administration will adopt a sustainable and commercial value chain approach, which will lead to transformational agro business development that can enhance food and personal security, create employment, empower women and youth, reduce poverty and create wealth through viable allied industrial development.
With Prince Yahaya Audu as governor, Kogi state will once again feel the impact of a purposeful and egalitarian government. He is well prepared to get off the block from day one by taking full ownership of the challenges before us as a people and together he strongly believes Kogi state will overcome.
Finally, Audu will be a leader that will be present to fight the symmetric and asymmetric warfare of Kogi people. Today, I can assure all Kogites that among the gladiators seeking to be governor of Kogi state, the best is here – Prince Odidi Audu – and you can take this assurance to the bank.
Comrade Itodo writes from Abuja.
