Moribund Kogi Assets to be revitalised by Gov Bello
Assets belonging to Kogi State government would be reinvigorated for higher productivity and employment generation for youths in the state, Inside Story has learnt.
The Chief of Staff to the Governor of Kogi State, Hon Edward Onoja, made the declaration when he, in the company of other government officials paid working visit to Idah Sanitary Core Company Limited in Idah Local Government Area of the state.
The Chief of Staff, who stressed the commitment of the administration of Alhaji Yahaya Bello towards ensuring that able bodied young men are not allowed to be idle, said the government is also exploring the possibility of private investments through Public Private Partnership initiative.
“Employment or job creation is paramount in the agenda of Alhaji Yahaya Bello’s government, and that is why he decided that there is need for his government to understand the feasibility of some of the institutions and facilities created to empower the people. It is unfortunate that these facilities were abandoned over the years and were left to be vandalised.
“The government will no longer take it. The administration of Governor Bello is determined to injecting life into these currently moribund institutions for the benefits of the state in terms of revenue generation and employment creation for the citizens, especially the youths,” he lamented.
He told Inside Story that the Governor, having rubbed minds with critical stakeholders on the need to check and assess all of the state’s assets, has expressed sadness that some of the institutions that have potentials of launching the state towards industrial revolution were also abandoned.
Such facilities, according to him, exist across the state, assuring that they would be revived, either to their original state to perform the function for which they were originally created, or new options would be explored to create jobs and put the energy of young people to effective use outside the civil service.
Such abandoned facilities, he said, include agro-allied industries, mineral resources sites and factories, configuration industries, one of which is the Idah Sanitary Core Company, metallurgical complexes, Milling Corporations among others.
“Revitalisation of abandoned industries with potentials is one of the directions that the APC government led by President Muhammadu Buhari is going; and that is the footstep that Governor Yahaya Bello is also toeing. Diversification is key because there is the need to add more values to the raw materials available in the state,” Hon Onoja said.
According to him, the Bureau for Public Private Partnership has been institutionalised in Kogi State since the inception of the government of Governor Bello because he has the genuine intention of creating the enabling environments for private sector participation in the state’s economy.
The administration has therefore embarked on ambitious infrastructural development across the state, in form of roads constructions and repairs, provision of clean water, rural electrification, security, among others.
He gave example of the Idah Sanitary Core Company, where the team saw firsthand, the level of vandalism and stealing of high proportion, saying if there was adequate security on the property, the level of destruction would not have been this high.
“Governor Yahaya Bello has done excellently in the security sector. This has also encouraged private investors to take advantage by investing their resources and making good money for the state and for themselves. They are also helping to address some of the problems the state faces in terms of infrastructure and job creation,” he added.
The State Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Hon Sanusi Usman Yahaya, who was part of the government entourage, had expressed sadness over the level of vandalism carried out on the facility.
Yahaya said from preliminary studies, it has been found that the equipments are not salvageable but that the structure is intact.
“Technical studies would be done to ascertain what is left, and the options available to government will be either to bring in private investors or do what it can to get necessary economic benefits to both the people of the community and the state,” he said.
He told Inside Story that government may also decide to convert the place to a suitable industry that would enhance the efforts of the administration towards creating employment opportunities for the state.
The Commissioner called on the youths of the state to continue to believe in the capacity of Governor Yahaya Bello to turn around the opportunities that accrue from the resources and enhance their welfare.
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