It is no longer news that Kogi State has recently been ranked first among states of the federation where examination malpractice is prevalent. In its 2016 report released a couple of day back, the West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) placed the confluence state on top of the states that have been tagged as notorious for examination malpractices. This is coming at a time when all states owned tertiary institutions: university, polytechnic and colleges of education have been closed since four months as a result of the striking academic and non-academic staff who are protesting non-payment of their fifteen months salaries and allowances, and it is a pointer to the fact that the present administration in the state and its “new direction” have no clue on how best to reposition the state education sector in order to save us all these embarrassments.
It is sad that our dear state under the so called “new direction” has always been in the news for the wrong reasons and made national headlines for negative caption. The fact that Kogi State is leading among the states that are notorious for non-payment of salaries and allowances became a subject of national discuss few days ago when majority of the national dailies carried a bold headline that portrays and exposed the state and its clueless “new direction” government in a negative and bad light.
Recently, houses and properties of certain individuals were demolished and destroyed in an operation which was greeted with public applause within the state and beyond. Even though the alleged criminals were never convicted by a court of competent Jurisdiction, the public view of the action of the state government is that it will serve as deterrent to other criminally minded elements in an effort to rid the state of the activities of men of the underworld.Couple of weeks ago, some assassins made an attempt on the life of senator Dino Melaye, a serving senator of the federal republic of Nigeria. It is however worrisome that rather than extend the same treatment of demolishing their properties, the state government is doing everything possible to defend the culprits. The recent protest in favour the alleged assassins in which persons closed to the state government were visible is not only a dent on the image of the state but also raises a serious question of whether there is a connection of any sort. Houses of individuals have been demolished in the recent past for the reasons that guns were found in them. Now, guns have been found in the houses of some of the alleged assassins who made an attempt on the life of a senator, which have been displayed by the Nigerian police, yet the state government hasn’t deemed fit to extend the same gesture of demolition.
Well meaning citizens of the state were pondering and trying to properly dissect the rationale behind the misrepresentation and shameful outing of Edward Onoja, who in his usual manner and characteristic of usurping the duties and responsibilities of the media aides of the state government ended up humiliating his principal at the May Day interview with Channels Television. The garrulous Chief of Staff had opined that the reason why Kogi workers chose to cancel this year’s May Day rally was because of security concerns rather than the wide spread make believe of hunger and economic hardship in the state. The above statement of Onoja has directly indicted and further exposed the claims of the state government that hundreds of millions have been spent on security since inception of the present administration. Obviously, the said huge amounts has find its way into individuals’ pockets as usual, otherwise how come a government that was recently rated as best in security by the inspector general of police couldn’t make the state safe enough for a lawful and an internationally recongnised worker’s rally?
The show of shame by the state government in the past few days during which medical doctors under the aegis of Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) who are currently on strike were threatened with sack and a no work no pay policy instead of urgently engaging them in a dialog is to say the least an embarrassment and an open display of immaturity by the state government. It’s now obvious that the “new direction”blue print of the Yahaya Bello government is set to further ruin the state rather than bringing any positive change and development. It is high time the state government began to think outside the box and consult widely for wise counsel and proper guidance on how best to resolve and tackle the myriad of problems militating against the state. The state is blessed with men and women with vast experience in all sectors of life, the time to bring them in is now.
– Hussain Obaro writes from Lokoja.
oseniobaro@yahoo.com
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