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.
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