GOV. BELLO HAS INSTITUTIONALISED TRANSPARENCY AND GOOD GOVERNANCE IN THE RUNNING OF KOGI STATE AFFAIRS
“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader”_. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS
Ultimately, leadership is not about glorious crowning acts. It is about keeping your team focused on a goal and motivated to do their best to achieve it, especially when the stakes are high and the consequences really matter. It is about laying the groundwork for others’ success, and then standing back and letting them shine.
The above describes the personality of Kogi State Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello. When he was sworn-in on January 27, 2016, Governor Yahaya Bello made history as the youngest Governor ever in Nigeria. Since then, he has been facing attacks from various faceless groups, floated by “opposition elements” in the State.
The first was a story on alleged embezzlement of bailout fund published by an online newspaper which was sponsored by political opposition in the state.
All the issues raised in the publication against Governor Bello were unfounded, baseless myth which has since been discarded by the State Government.
I will like to remind those opposition elements that Governor Bello met an empty treasury with huge debts profile including unpaid workers salary of five months, contractors among others; Governor Bello was sworn in at a time when the state need about N50billion Naira to settle debts owed to workers in the State.
It may interest them to know that Governor Bello moved quickly in order to ameliorate the suffering of the State workers and approached necessary authorities for bailout and was only able to accessed N20billion Naira with the help of Zenith and Access Bank respectively.
Since then, all genuine workers have all received their salary at both the State and the Local Government Areas leading to the called-off of the strike embarked upon by the State Workers Union.
Since assuming office, Governor Bello has institutionalised Transparency and Good Governance in the running of the State Affairs. The action has greatly paid off with the discovery of over 18,000 ghost workers which cost the state over 1.3Billion Naira monthly.
Governor Bello has never done anything in a vacuum or taking unilateral decisions, Governor Bello always consults with larger stakeholders in the State including Royal Fathers and Party Leaders across board.
It will also be recalled that Governor Bello has assured that the people of the state should henceforth expect development, prosperity and good governance all the way after the Court of Appeal Judgment came in his favour.
Quoting him, he said that “Remember I am on a divine mission and I will do nothing less than to continue to develop the State and to curb Corruption, Waste and Mismanagement and to put the State on developmental map.”
Some even accused him of causing the chaos in the Kogi House of Assembly and Governor Bello told his critics plainly that “there has never been any face-off between the Executive and the Legislature. There has always been misunderstanding in every legislative house and Kogi State is not an exception. As of today, we have one united Kogi Assembly.”
I will advise those “opposition elements” to come and join hands with the Governor in order to move the State forward. I will also advise others politicians in the State to set the record straight rather than misleading the public for selfish reason, all in the name of politics.
Governor Bello has chosen to remain focus and continue to impacts on the life of the people rather than being distracted by any faceless, selfish group, whose inordinate aims is to create confusion in the state for cheap political gains.
Written by Adewole Kehinde, a Journalist and Public Affairs Commentator.