Kogi State has the potential to compete favorably with Lagos and any other state in terms of Internally Generated Revenue IGR, Governor Ahmed Usman has declared.
The Governor made these comments when he was a guest of the TVC on Thursday.
“Our state is full of mineral deposits. Kogi State has over 32 mineral deposits in commercial quantities, and this time around, it has to work for us. That’s why we are engaging our critical stakeholders to look back home. “
These resources are not just there for the sake of being there. We have met and said this time around, we have to unlock it. We have to unlock our potentials. From our Economic Forum meeting, we have resolved that these resources must work,” he said.
Governor Ododo also reiterated his determination to revolutionize farming, refocus government developmental initiatives, and block loopholes to save sufficient resources to meet the yearnings and aspirations of the people of the state.
He said he was not ready to give failure a chance in all sectors and sections of his administration.
He recalled the day he was appointed as the Auditor-General on March 1, 2016, and said “no local government could pay more than 27 per cent salary. Categorically, it was only Okene and Lokoja LG that could boast of paying 27 per cent.
“The government of Alhaji Yahaya Bello inherited arrears of unpaid salaries. For the State, it was over four months; for the Local Governments, we cannot even establish that, because it had been on percentage, not only during the last government.
You can confirm that we started with the payment of four months’ unpaid salaries. It’s an open secret there for you to verify,” he said.
As a former civil servant, Governor Ododo said he could relate to how disappointing it could be for workers not to receive their salaries promptly.
He said his administration has prioritized workers’ welfare over official luxury, such as acquiring new vehicles for appointees, adding that with improved FAAC allocations and Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), the Kogi State government is poised to go into total mechanized farming, which will engage the teeming youths and also provide food sufficiency.
The Governor appreciated the synergy amongst Nigeria’s security agencies in helping him secure the state, especially during the unfortunate kidnapping and eventual release of some of the students of Confluence University of Science and Technology (CUSTECH), Osara.
