Gbenga Oke
2 September 2008
interview
RECENTLY, the Executive Governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Ibrahim Idris celebrated his 100 days in office and he spoke with some journalists on his achievements in the state since he was re-elected.
He also spoke about issues his administration will tackle in the next four years and how he intends to transform Kogi State into a tourist attraction. Excerpts:
Why is it that some of your people are still antagonistic, despite all you have done in the state?
No matter what you do, there are people who still think they are the ones that can do all things. Some people in Kogi State believe that they are the only ones who can achieve in governance, they have turned themselves to tin gods. It is expected; you should not expect everybody to praise you, but if you have about 75 percent giving you credit, you should thank God.
Even Jesus Christ was crucified and Prophet Mohammed (SAW) was accused of many things. So, it is natural. I think I have done my best and think it is in order for some people to criticise me because you can't even do well if you do not have critics. But of course, we are expecting constructive criticism.
But in some cases, constructive criticism never comes. An enemy is an enemy and would never see anything good in what you do. This is what has been happening in the state. It is within one particular group and I think it is something we can take care of.
What have you done to reconcile with the opposition since you were sworn in and what have you done to bring about peace in Ebiraland, particularly Okene; and what are you doing to intensify the presence of the federal government in the state?
We are doing our best to attract federal presence. We are a state on our own and we cannot force the federal government to bring projects here. All we need to do is to talk to them to see reasons why they should help us. In the area of road provision, I have taken it upon myself to work on the roads without waiting for the FG.
For example, we have the Ganija-Ajaokuta road which is from the south, I keep wondering why I should continue to wait for the Federal Government when the road is within my state and the users are suffering. I have written the federal government, but there is no response yet, and I cannot sit down and watch people within and outside the state suffering simply because the FG is yet to come. So, I awarded the contract and it is going to be one of the best roads in the country.
Then, we have the Ida-Eyendeka road, it is a federal road. The people of Eyendeka, Ibaji Local Government Area have never seen a tarred road in their lives. How can people be suffering like that and I will say I'm waiting for the FG? These people are very good in agriculture and most of their products get rotten because of lack of good road to bring them to the city.
As soon as there is rain, they cannot go anywhere, that is enough punishment for any community. Now, we have only about five kilometre to finish that road. Then, we have the Meme bridge which was first built in 1938 or there about.
I cannot allow people to continue to suffer because I'm waiting for the federal government, that is why I decided to dualise that bridge and since then, people have been going safely on that bridge. We have many other federal roads like that for which we cannot wait for the federal government because those who use them are our people. I think they are trying to do their best, but we cannot wait for them.
Then about peace, we have done quite well. So far, we have had meetings with the opposition. But even the so called opposition members are still members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who decided that hence they could not get what they want, they decided to leave the party to other parties.
Now that some of them have become House of Assembly members, House of Representatives and Senate members, etc from their parties, we have to sit down and agree that if truly we seek to serve the people, we shouldn't fight. That we have been able to do. Infact, some of them have agreed to come back into the PDP.
I told them that the cap they were wearing was of the Action Congress (AC) but the big gowns were of the PDP. But then, we are talking about politics which has to do with interests of various individuals. I am not against them, but I believe that this is the time to eschew crisis.
We are reaching out to the federal government to help us mop up the arms and ammunition in the hands of the youths. We have all agreed that a mistake has been committed and the wrong has to be corrected. So, we are making sure there is lasting peace in the state.
We are also addressing the other medium through which violence is brought in the state, especially through masquerade and chieftaincy celebrations. On chieftaincy, we have been able to create more first class and second class chiefs, all in the spirit of bringing everyone to embrace peace.
And you know, when you want to put things right, it is not easily achievable, it takes some time. But I know that very soon, we will achieve our goal. I think people are beginning to see that it is not right to burn and destroy the properties of their brothers. As I am talking to you now, we have various committees working for peace.
What is your main area of focus and what are you doing about making Lokoja a tourist attraction?
Right now, we are working towards that because I know the state or Lokoja has a lot of potentials as regards to tourism. We really want to work on that to make sure we benefit from whatever we have. For instance, Lokoja is where you have the first primary school, where you have the first prison in the north, where you have the first headquarters, in fact, my present office, the first office of Lord Lugard. We have so many things that would attract people.
For now, we are working on the modalities of the confluence beach Hotel, we are trying to bring it up. We are adding 120 rooms of high standard and the area to be built is already marked out. The feasibility study is already in place and the rooms would be renovated and we have invited some big organisations that serves hotels in the world, to come up with their plans on how we can improve on confluence beach.
I believe when all this is in place, a lot of business and seminars would be held here instead of Abuja. More so, we have the confluence in Lokoja and there is a place where we can build a tourism attraction, with bars, flying boats and refreshments. This is in the top gear, we want to create a resort within the confluence. I am already discussing this with Julius Berger, so that people can have a place to relax.
Well, plans are there, but because of the limited resources available, we have to take it one after the other. But I know eventually by Gods grace, by the time I finish, I'll be able to put all these in place so that it would become my legacy. So, tourism is part of my plans for Kogi State so that other Nigerians would enjoy some of the good things we have.
My first priority now is youth empowerment, as empowerment of youths remains a big problem like a time bomb, waiting to explode, but we are working hard to keep our youths busy. But whether we like it or not, road, water, health, agriculture are all important and education cannot be ruled out.
There is no doubt that Kogi State university is the best private and state university in Nigeria today. That is the only university that has full accreditation for law where some of the old ones can't. It is a pride to us, and so far, we have had all our courses accredited, it is a record that is yet to be beaten.
And for the primary schools, at least there is no more classroom under the tree and it will never return in my time. Other tertiary institutions like Kogi Polytechnic and the College of Education have had all their courses accredited.
In fact, two weeks ago, I gave about N100 million to the polytechnic for its development. On farming, we have succeeded in FADAMA. Now, we want to make use of the opportunity it presents. On road, we have done very well too. There is this particular bridge that cut off the people of a community from the rest of the state and we have rectified it. We are also establishing another technical college in Kabba. Everything is set and soon, will approve some funds for its take off.
The executive and legislature are supposed to act as checks and balances on each other, but the relationship between the two arms in this state appears to be too cordial. Is there a case of Ghana-must-go bags exchanging hands for this to happen and how do you react to allegations that you took Clarence Olufemi to Saudi Arabia to pick the cabinet members?
Let me make it very clear that, there is nothing like that. I believe in God strongly. I was in Saudi Arabia when my election was nullified and I told my God to bring me back to power and he did. But Clarance Olufemi is not a Muslim and I cannot imagine him following me to Mecca. So, all those allegations were rumours.
I went to Saudi Arabia to thank my God for what he did for me. The question is why should it take Clarence to Mecca or America or wherever to appoint my cabinet? What is wrong with Lokoja. There is no truth in all those allegations. Why do I need to negotiate with Ghana-must-go bag? Have you ever heard of EFCC or ICPC going after anyone in the Assembly?
Not in this state. There is no way I can give them public money. I have never done it before and I will never. If you are talking about cordiality, then you should understand that each arm is doing its job as it should be, one is not interfering with the duty of the other.
What is your government doing to encourage investors on the solid minerals in the state? Also, what are you doing to enhance agriculture and the new International market being built by your administration?
I will start with the new market issue. The place is very well designed in a very strategic location. The international market we are building at present, there are plans on it for the nearest future, we want to make it a stop-over centre where people coming from the North and South can stop to rest. There will be restaurants, shopping malls, trailer parks and others, just like what you normally see in the United Kingdom (UK).
I want to make haste on it because it will help the state economically. We even plan to have a hotel there for people who would like to rest and continue their journey the next day. Lokoja is centrally located, if you are coming from Lagos or Maiduguri, for example, you might have a rest and continue your journey later. That will provide us a good opportunity and we want to make use of it. So, the question of getting the place congested does not arise, especially as we have put all arrangement in place.
On solid mineral, all you can do is to provide the enabling environment for people to operate and tap what we have. And then, these minerals we have belong to the federal government, not the state. We talked to a lot of people who are interested in what we have to come and invest and we are ready to give them all the required incentives, like land and all that will give them the required easy landing for them to establish.
We are interested in encouraging them to come, but you can bring the horse to the river, but you cannot force it to drink. A lot of them are interested in coming, but one important factor that is holding them is power.
At the end of the day, they complain about power, but we are discussing at the NEC meeting about the possibility of setting up our own power generation plant. Maybe that will help to encourage those who want to come and invest in our solid mineral sector. I know we have much of those resources and the more people come in for the development, the better for the state and the nation.
I am advising that whoever is interested should come, we are going to give them the enabling environment.
The other question on what I am doing on agriculture. I have said that one of the areas we are looking is youth employment. I am working hard on the area, for instance, we have ordered about 1,750 tricycles for the youths. This will make it possible for them to go to anywhere their farm is. And they can as well carry whatever they want to take to the farm.
Besides, I have ordered for about 350 tractors which have been distributed to all parts of the state with about 30 left. We have told the contractors to clear a large portion of land in all parts of the state to be given to the youths free of charge for farming. We are also ordering for cargotype tricycle for farming, so that there will be no excuse not to go to farm.
This is something I have been doing since and the reason our rice production has improved. The improved seedlings of rice. I have ensured more capacity and quantity of rice being produced in Kogi State now. We also provide other seedlings to our farmers and in most cases, when we do that, we go back to buy the crops from them whereby we sell to buyers at subsided prices.
As I am talking to you now, I have approved money as loan to farmers recently as this will be an access area for the farmers since we cannot do it, the banks will do it for them. With the creation of Kogi loans and savings, they will have access to loans.
The Ajaokuta Steel belongs to the Federal Government, but it is in your state. What are you doing to address the shame it has constituted? Also, what are you doing to address the issue of multiple taxation in the state?
Ajaokuta is a federal business, but because it is in the state, we are interested in what is happening there. We already have someone from Kogi State in the new board constituted for it. Once in a while, they feed me with information of what happens there. I think the federal Government, this time, is serious about what is happening in that place. It is unfortunate that Ajaokuta which is one of the largest in Africa is in comatose.
I know the FG is not happy about its state and it is working to make it come back to life. We would be happier, because it is in our state. I am sure we are going to succeed in bringing it back into operation.
On taxation, there is no such thing in Kogi state, as far as I know.
The new Board of Internal Revenue has been set up. We cannot go against the law. We want to follow the constitution and the law of the state. Any state law that contravenes that of the federal government is a bad law. The Ministry of Justice in the state has looked into that. We want to be sure we do not make laws that compete with federal laws.
Are you not worried about leaving abandoned projects behind since you might not have enough funds to finance your projects, or are you going to take loans?
When you want to come up with a project and you decide to wait till you have the money, then, you are not serious about it. You must have your work plan based on which you can then budget, no matter the available fund. I am a businessman turned politician. My business background has put things in place for me. Before I go into any business or project, I plan properly and work out the modalities to get the money.
I am not a person that will dish out contracts left, right and centre and at the end of the day, will not be able to finish anyone. So, for now, any contract I award, I will redouble myself to finish them within the next few years. I wouldn't want to leave any liabilities for anybody. I will not award any contract that will be pushed to my successor to complete, No!. I will prefer to embark on jobs I know I can finish by the time my tenure ends. I can assure you that I have taken very good care of that.
What are you doing in the areas of road construction and rehabilitation particularly the Egbe road?
There is a contract already advertised for Egbe and other roads. I want to be very fair in what I do and so, I want every local government to enjoy what we are doing. If I am going to award roads, I ensure it goes round all the local governments.
Egbe is a special case, but the contract will be awarded anytime from now. Kabba to Egbe is a federal road; so I have very little to do there. But all other roads within the local government are my responsibility and they are the ones we are giving out to contractors soon. Be rest assured that we are working on them.
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