Kingsley Fanwo is the Director-General, Media and Publicity to Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi state. In this interview with TEMIDAYO AKINSUYI in Lagos, he speaks on his principal’s declaration to seek reelection and other issues in the state. Excerpts:

Your principal, last week declared his intention to seek reelection in office. What has been the mood of Kogites since he made his intention known?

The flow of congratulatory messages since he declared his intention to seek reelection has clearly shown that the people of Kogi state were very ready for that declaration on Wednesday. They were anxious for him to come out and declare his intention to seek second term in office. This is a testimony to what he has done in the last three years in the state. He has been there for 39 months now and he has really justified his mandate. He has delivered on his key promises to the people of the state and that is why they have been pressurising him for almost six months now to come out clearly and declare his intention. He decided not to declare his intention because he was focused on the reelection of President Muhammadu Buhari and also to deliver Kogi state to APC much more better than we had it in 2015. Having succeeded in doing that, he felt this is the time to yield to the calls of the people to declare his intention to run. He has the constitutional and moral right to seek reelection because he has delivered on his promises to the people of Kogi state.

The impression out there is that this current administration is not doing well and has performed below expectations, and so the people want the governor replaced. What is your take on that?

Definitely, there are different opinions on this issue. There are some who have benefited immensely from the infrastructural developments embarked upon by the administration. A good number of Kogites have benefited from our agricultural programmes in the state. Many of the residents are also looking for- ward to having the second largest rice mill in Northern Nigeria in the state. A good number of them are also happy with the Greenhouse Project at Osara. Many Kogites are also happy that we have been able to solve the perennial water problem in Lokoja, Kogi central and other places in the state. A good number of them are happy that the Ankpa Township road that has defied three administrations has finally been completed by this administration.

Many of the people are also happy that we have been able to carry out a civil service reform, though very painful to some workers but it was a necessary surgery that we have done in order to get rid of the cesspit of fraud and corruption in the service. Today, we have been able to digitalise the service and the people are happy about this. People who benefited from the fraud of the past can never be happy and that is why you can see all those sponsored protests, articles and write-ups against the reelection of the governor. Nobody will expect these ones to be happy with the reforms being carried out by the ad- ministration. That these happy are not happy shows that the governor has done very well.

You have listed many projects but last week, Senator Dino Melaye challenged the governor to invite President Buhari to come and commission one single project in the state. Are you accepting that challenge?

The fact that we haven’t invited Mr. President to come and commission projects doesn’t show that we have not done several projects. The governor does not believe in the fanfare associated with projects commissioning. After completion, he will say ‘let the people be using it’. On several occasions, we have impressed it on him to commission some of these projects himself , but he said ‘let the people be using it, no need for making noise about it’. We have electrified over 35 communities in Kogi state; we have also completed a lot

of water projects in the state. We have also taken the state capital from the second dirtiest state capital in Nigeria to the second cleanest today. We have done a lot of things and the people can testify to that.

On Dino Melaye, we always try to avoid giving him undue attention. The ideologies are different. Yahaya Bello is in politics to develop, Melaye is in politics to share and black- mail. So, there is a very sharp difference between the two of them and that is why it is difficult for the two of them to work together because the ideologies are quite different. So, now that Melaye said he wants to be governor and he is campaigning, I hope he will give peace a chance and not throw our state into crisis because as a government, we have invested so much in security and whenever there are crisis, it always lead to a reversal of the gains we’ve recorded in the area of security.

It is also rumoured that the governor is fighting with leaders of APC in the state. Don’t you think that may affect his chances of getting the ticket?

When we talk about the leadership of APC in the state to- day, as the governor and number one citizen of the state, Governor Bello is the leader of the party in Kogi state and he has been carrying the party from one level of success to another, especially during elections. Our congresses also went smoothly without any issues.

That shows that we are one big family in APC Kogi state and the leader of the party, Alhaji Yahaya Bello has been piloting the affairs of the party excellently. We are not aware of any issue with any party leader. The people you call party leader are people who contributes selflessly to the party; people who participate in the activities of the party. In the 2019 elections, some of these diaspora leaders did not show up during our electioneering campaign. They stayed in Abuja and claim that they were having issues with the governor. What has happened and the success of APC has clearly shown that the governor is on ground and he has no issues with party leaders that are genuine and are genuinely contributing to the development and progress of the party in the state.

A federal lawmaker in Kogi state Hon. Sunday Karimi recently said that civil servants in the state have lost count of how much they are being owed. What is the real situation of salary payment in Kogi state?

For a federal lawmaker to say that civil servants in Kogi have lost count of how much they are being owed is unfortunate. For a federal lawmaker to say Kogi had accessed N50b and another N30b and also alleged that we are not executing any project is laughable because all these allegations are false. It tells more of the quality of people we send to represent us. The situation in Kogi was there before we came into office. Over four months salaries were owed pension running into billions of naira were also owed retired workers. During the bailout calculation, it was projected that Kogi would need N50.8b to defray all those arrears. So far, we’ve been able to access N20b from the N50b. We gave N10b to local government areas to be able to deal with their salary issues and the state government used N10b to settle other debts.

We are still expecting the balance of N30.8b to be able to resolve it but I can say that we are owing four months salaries in the state and that is a general issue across all states in Nigeria. However, the governor is aware that he is elected to find solution to problems and not to give excuses. So, he is working round the clock to find solutions to the issue of salary in the state. We inherited a tax portfolio of N350m per month, but today it is over N1b. We know that we can do N3b before the end of this year. By the time we do that, we will have enough resources to pay salaries and to concentrate on our projects.

Our monthly revenue, both federal allocation and IGR is about N4b, our salary portfolio and subventions to higher institutions is just a little shy of N3b every month. The bond that the PDP government took before we came into office was expended on white elephant projects which did not yield anything to the state like the Kogi House, Kogi Hotels and others. We are not getting a dime from it but we are paying over N650m monthly. These are the things affecting us because if we put this N650m into salary payment, it will go a long way. I am confident that before the end of June, we will not be talking of salary issues in Kogi state.
https://www.independent.ng/yahaya-bello-has-performed-well-to-deserve-re-election-fanwo/

funny

Comedy!

Perform Kini!


Maybe he performed on his matrimonial bed.

Anyway every man got a disciple

I cannot waste my time reading your story
If he has truly performed, you writeup would have been short with facts as a Wiseman once said' brevity is the soul of sagacity'.

Yahaya Bello ,Edward devilish Onoja and Fanwo the demon are all sick people in need of deliverance from lies and deceit