Captain Idris Ichalla Wada is the immediate past governor of Kogi State. He has obtained forms to contest the November 16 Kogi governorship election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). In this interview he spoke on reasons he is seeking another term in office, his chances in the election, and other issues. You were governor of Kogi State for four years but lost re-election bid in 2015. What would you do differently if given the opportunity to govern the state again?
There are many things I will do differently. The first time you come in as governor, your perception of the state is different from the reality you meet on ground when you resume office.
Therefore, you need a few weeks, and probably months, to try and match perception with the reality and come up with strategies in managing the affairs of the state to move it to a better level than you met it. ADVERTISEMENT Generally, whenever you have an opportunity for leadership, your goal is to leave the place better than you met it. So having gone through all those stages, I have a better understanding of the challenges facing Kogi State.
I will proffer solutions, first by developing a blueprint for the transformation of the state for over eight to 10 years period. I achieved some level of success in the implementation of that blueprint. So if I have an opportunity to go back I will move the state forward from where I left it. There are certain people who worked with me at that time that would not work with me again because they did not perform as expected. They did not discharge their obligations to the state. Some of them were a disappointment.
I will select some more competent people. Some of them did extremely well, and by God’s grace I will still work with those ones. However, I will bring in some new blood.
I will give the youth a bigger opportunity than I did in my first tenure. They will be part of my government. There will be more ethnic and religious balancing. And there will be gender sensitivity for women to participate. I will also select few areas to focus attention on. I will be a better governor than I was in my first tenure.
There are many other things I will do that I cannot mention in this short interview. A lot of aspirants have indicated their interests to contest the governorship election on the platform of your party, how do you intend to scale through the hurdle at the primaries? The array of contestants is a very sad commentary on the quality of governance we have in Kogi State now.
Everybody thinks that if Bello can’t do it, I can do it better; that is why everybody is coming out. That is my view because they did not come out like that when I ran in 2011. With that kind of environment, everybody wants the opportunity to make a difference. In terms of how I will deal with it, that is not my problem; I am focusing on my own aspiration to impress the party that I am the best candidate if they want to win the election because I have unique qualities.
I have done it before. I have a deep experience and knowledge of Kogi State. I know the problems of Kogi State and I have the capacity to deal with it. The party is the one that will have the challenge of handling the number of aspirants.
The party will design its own method and approach to be able to reduce the number of aspirants to a manageable level. If they organise a free, fair and credible primary election, according to the electoral law and the constitution of our party, any candidate who emerges would be supported by those who lost out. So for me, the best person to answer your question is the chairman of the PDP, Prince Uche Secondus.
A number of projects you completed or that were near completion before the end of your administration seem to have been abandoned or are not being put to use by the present administration. How would you react to this? I am very disappointed because government is a continuum. None of those projects belongs to me; they belong to the people of Kogi State. The state is now one of the poorest in Nigeria. It is a disgrace that nothing is being done in terms sustainability.
The projects I initiated for the state were economic projects that will bring money to the state and increase its internally generated revenue. For such projects to have been abandoned by the present government is shocking and difficult to understand. Why would a governor take over the affairs of a state and he is doing nothing to change its circumstances in terms of sustainability. Look at the 11-storey building in Abuja; we did the project at N2.2 billion. No other state in this country has put a structure of that magnitude. We brought it to 60per cent completion, but it has remained at the same level.
We were hoping that it would generate about N800m annually for Kogi. Look at the Lokoja Mega Park. We were hoping to generate N200m monthly from that park, but it is lying fallow. Why? Look at the vocational training centre built by our government in partnership with the Korean International Development Agency. It is supposed to be a centre of excellence for vocational training for West Africa, not just Nigeria. We would have earned revenue by attracting students from these catchment areas into Kogi State.
It would promote the image of Kogi State as a centre of excellence. Look at Kogi Hotels; we don’t have any real hotel in Kogi. The concept was to develop a hotel with conference facilities and attract conferences from other states and Abuja, particularly federal agencies. It is expected to improve the economy of Kogi State. I was building a small golf course because golf is an ingredient and nucleus for tourism. It is now occupied by cassava farms. It is a disgrace.
It is one of the things motivating me now to return and finish the constitutional four years and complete these projects and bring in a better revenue flow in terms of internally generated revenue and make the state self-sustainable. A vision of self- sustainability has nothing to do with party alliance; whether I am in the PDP or APC, Kogi State belongs to all of us. There have been concerns over percentage payment of salaries at the local government level.
How did you handle local government allocations from the federation account when you were in office? I was one of those who granted real autonomy to local government areas. I ensured that money went to them directly as released from the federation account. What the state government received during my tenure was enough to take care of the challenges. I didn’t take a kobo from their accounts. I challenge anyone who has any contrary view on this to present it to the public. When we applied for bailout, amounting to N50billion, local governments’ share was over N45billion.
I didn’t introduce percentage salary in councils. I gave chairmen of councils a free hand to manage the affairs of the third tier of government. How did the state come to rely on bailout for payment of salaries and pensions? Whenever the Bello administration runs into problems they look for an excuse to blame it on me. Initially, I decided not to reply to their allegations because the office of the governor should be held in high esteem.
But when they started taking my dignified silence for granted, I had to put the records straight, to the chagrin of discerning minds. In the first place, it is strange for a government to wait for bailout or Paris refunds before paying salaries. The governor should have known that salaries are paid from current revenue allocations from the federation account and internally generated revenue.
During my tenure, we paid salaries without bailout and Paris Club refunds. We were faced with dwindling revenue, which rendered many states financially insolvent, yet my government paid 36 out of 38 months salaries. Moreover, I didn’t leave debt for my successor. Kogi was the least indebted state. My government only took N800m loan from Zenith Bank, which we used as counterpart fund to provide educational infrastructure for primary schools.
This was the more reason why the state under my regime was the first to qualify for the bailout that was not given to my administration. How did your administration handle land administration? I am a very careful person, particularly when it comes to state matters. Throughout the four years I did not allocate any land to myself.
The land I built a house on Mount Patti Road was allocated to me by my predecessor, Alhaji Ibrahim Idris. Except where land was acquired for public interest, you can’t link me with land acquisition. The former permanent secretary in charge of land could bear me witness that I neither interfered with land acquisition nor asked for any. Since you left office as governor, what lessons have you learnt? One would have to be calculative on any major decision. I have learnt to blow my trumpet. The idea of saying that my projects or action would speak for me is no longer tenable.
Source: Dailytrust