‘Bad leadership causing underdevelopment in Kogi’
A blueprint on how to develop Kogi State by Alhaji Ibrahim Ahmed Aruwa, presented to the audience of Kogi State Professional Bankers Forum was all that was needed to kick start this governorship race. caught up with Alhaji Aruwa, 53, on his journey of con
Daily Trust: Of all the political offices available in Kogi State, why did you choose to contest the for governorship post? I think the level of experience I acquired through out my banking career more than equipped me to hold any office in the land, especially when you know that banking is law and practice. Political experience should be about individual capacity to lead, to harness human and material resources to create wealth for the state. It’s about having the required character and discipline to govern, it’s about being able to defend and protect the people from intruders and provide amenities that will make life meaningful to the citizenry. You must not be in politics for a decade or two before you can aspire to lead..
What are you considering before choosing a political platform to actualise your aspiration and don’t you think this delay could affect your chances?
Choosing a political party will soon happen. But we have to consider many things before arriving at the choice of a party. Chief among them is the political atmosphere of the state, which party is doing what. We equally want to know the party that has mass appeal to the people of the state. And above all, if not a new party, it should be a party that has good antecedent; a party that will not necessarily over task us when we assume leadership of the state. And again you know there is this talk about introduction of independent candidacy. So, all these will be put into consideration before arriving at the final decision on which party to choose but be rest assured that we shall do this in good time. And don’t forget we have ‘Aruwa Network 2019, a group with coordinators in the state, local government area and at ward levels. We are in contact with clubs, associations and other political parties that have shown interest in us and our course.
How are you factoring the fact that all this while Kogi State has always and is still aligning with the ruling party at the federal level in your choice of a platform?
We shall soon come up with a choice of our platform and in order not to make mistake, we are consulting widely. We may not be too bothered whether the party of our choice has link with that at the centre or not. All we care is that we have a strong winning team and the electorate believe in us.
What exactly do you mean when you talk of a party overtasking a government?
You know if one runs under a party, one is bound to be guided by that party’s manifesto. A situation may arise where a governor may be arm-twisted to do the bidding of some strong party members at the expense of the people’s program.
In the first place, what motivated you to want to be governor of Kogi State?
I cannot tell the last time the people had access to clean water. Again, access to power is becoming a mirage, especially where we are told that part of the state’s source of power is from some grid around Oturkpo in Benue State. Farmers lack access to modern equipment and any soft loans enjoyed by their peers in other states especially on cooperative basis. The prices of foods are on the rise despite the fact that the state is an agrarian state. The worst is the level of unemployment among the citizens of Kogi State. Kogi has more number of fuel attendants at most of the petrol stations in Nigeria. These and many other reasons are factors that made me think that it is time to look back and offer my service to my people. I want to make the state a tourist destination, building on infrastructures. I want to build on the internally generated revenue through infrastructural development of the state without further over taxing the people. I want to bring out the best of productivity in the state workforce by creating a cordial work atmosphere for them; assuring them of getting their monthly pay between the 22nd and 24th of every month. I want to take the state to the period where students on vacation can be engaged in vacation jobs. Apart from leadership challenges, what do you think could be responsible for the under development of the state?
You have hit the nail on the wall; leadership challenge is solely responsible for the under development of the state. Name any other challenge, you will discover that it is directly or indirectly related to leadership issue.
One issue that has continued to dominate politics in the state is mutual suspicion among the various ethnic groups which has really been acrimonious; what is your take on this?
All the tribes should see each other as partners in progress and work for the development of the state. In this regard, each ethnic group should display sense of fairness to other ethnic groups for peaceful coexistence. Leadership has a great role to play in ensuring that there is mutual respect among tribes. And of course, a leader should be fair and be seen to display equity and fairness in the distribution of amenities. So one of the things that breeds mistrust and acrimony is uneven distribution of wealth and lack of fairness on the part of leaders.
Since the state was created, what tangible progress would you say has been recorded by previous administrations?
The creation of Kogi State University is one of the major achievements recorded by one of the previous administrations since the creation of the state. We have institutions such as the federal university, College Of Education and state polytechnic. Second, the sighting of Obajana Cement Company is no doubt another major achievement. Closely related to this is the establishment of the new Ceramic Company. We have the Nigerian Navy Secondary School now which is another milestone of the previous administration
Are you then satisfied with that for the 16 years of democracy we have had in the state?
No, not at all! If I was satisfied with the 16 years of democracy, I would not be talking of coming to contest governorship again.
What do you think is the mindset of an average Kogite?
For now, I think the average Kogite is thinking of when there will be positive development in their state and how he/ she can benefit. Majority of our youths and women need to be engaged because they are idle, and as you know, an idle mind is a devil’s workshop.
You have the incumbent governor and other aspirants to contend with, what have you done or contributed to the state and its people to make them want to vote you over the other contenders?
While in the bank employment, one of my legacies was in the engagement of Kogi State indigenes in the bank. And to be modest, we did our job with honesty, integrity and credibility while with the bank but be rest assured that we shall introduce transparency in governance for the overall development of the state.
Violence has always accompanied any electoral process in the state, what do you suggest to be the way out?
You know Kogi State governorship election will hold as a stand alone, sometimes in November 2019. So all eyes and focus will be on that election. Beside, serious awareness has been created among the populace now. These two should lead to drastic reduction in election violence in Kogi and the country as a whole.
You have consulted widely with all sections and stakeholders in the state towards actualizing your governorship ambition, what did you conclude from that exercise to be the people’s attitude to sociopolitical and economic development?
We are still consulting and so far I can tell you, it’s been quite interesting. The general feeling among our people is that they are yet to have a taste of dividends of democracy. In the words of many, not much has been achieved in terms of economic development in the state. They also believe that politicians try to cause divisions along tribal and religious lines but the affinity among the people has made it difficult for that to happen.