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If there was any government in Nigeria that has been so misunderstood and demonized, it is the government of Governor Bello of Kogi State. The public always likes to criticize the administration led by Governor Bello in the state and also downplay its activities.
Just five years after his administration in the State, it seems that we do not recognize that he has done something or that he is still doing something. We lampoon him daily for the slow development of infrastructure in the state and even more blame him for the uncontrollable natural disaster.
A prominent topic of interest to me in this article is the endless percentage of wages for local government workers in the state. Unquestionably, Governor Bello and his designees are always insulted and condemned for the continued percentage of salary payments to workers in the state. Recall that in Governor Bello’s first term, the former Local Government Commissioner in the state, the Honorable Sadiq Ohere, was accused of illegally deducting funds from the treasury from the joint Kogi state and local government account.
The information that rented the air at the time was that after this deduction, the remainder is shared among the 21 State Caregivers / Administrators. The Administrators could not raise an eyebrow at the illicit deduction to make do with the little that their benefactor (Governor Bello) gave them, which was the resulting effect of the percentage payment of wages to Workers in the State.
It is instructive to note that the percentage wage payment to workers in Kogi state predates Governor Bello’s administration, as it all started during Wada’s rule in the state. Due to the experience of the people in the last two previous administrations in Kogi State, Governor Abubakar Audu and Alhaji Ibrahim Idris were rated highest in terms of infrastructure development and salary payments. Using the same template, the people also awarded Captain Idris Wada and Yahaya Bello as the worst governors so far in the history of the state.
Does my reader know that the public is not really fair to this latest duo? I took this position because the situation at the time they were ruling was unpleasant and this made them look stupid in the public eye. The truth is, they weren’t incompetent nor should we blame them for our plot.
I have verifiable reasons for this. A year after the Wada administration, there were three main sources of income for the state of the federation. Apart from the monthly federal allocation known to all, the State also received the SURE-P fund, the oil wind fall fund, the currency exchange differential and all of these come in billions of naira. The oil wind alone was a great fund and any state government could then undertake a commendable project with it and it would also be seen as a serious and committed administration. The states of the federation were able to make full payment of wages to workers using one of these funds to support others.
This was not the case a year towards the end of Governor Wada’s administration. Thus, all these funds under the name of SURE-P, Oil Windfall stopped reaching the State when President Buhari took over government affairs. Now, should we blame President Buhari also for this strike or for our plot? The answer is absolute no. There was an oil price boom during President Jonathan’s administration and President Buhari was unlucky to come when there was a downward trend in the price of crude oil on the international market.
As there was no designated reserve fund from the previous state government, Governor Wada’s administration resorted to the payment of percentage salary to the worker and this was maintained until the current administration. To clarify, what the Alhaji Yahaya administration in the state receives monthly does not depend on the combined funds of previous administrations.
Sentiment aside, even if we had another group of people like these two previous Governors, the state of affairs would have been no different than what we are seeing. Governor Bello is really trying in a time of austerity, as the state has not collapsed as long as the prophet of doom envisioned. Before attacking Governor Bello for the percentage salary payment, investigate what is in view of contemporaries from Kogi state who live in poverty.
Shaibu Stephen Ojate is a journalist and public affairs commentator from Abuja. You are on the Facebook platform and operate a Facebook page on it. You can be contacted via WhatsApp on the phone number 09075716236. To receive directly the subsequent publication of your account in your WhatsApp account, please send a message.
