32 Years after Creation, Kogi People Still Wallowing in Poverty, Accord Candidate Laments

Ibrahim Oyewale in Lokoja and

Ahead of the November 11 governorship election in Kogi State, the candidate of Accord Party, Rear Admiral Jibrin Usman, yesterday, lamented that the people of the state were still wallowing in abject poverty 32 years after the state was created.

Usman, also a former Chief of Naval Staff, further noted that Kogi had no reason to be poor considering huge mineral and human resources at its disposal.

He expressed the concern while addressing party’s stakeholders and supporters from Kogi West at a town-hall meeting held in Kabba, the headquarters of Kabba/Bunu Local Government Area, Kogi State yesterday

He, therefore, assured the people that his administration in the state “will ensure that our people are lifted out of poverty completely if voted as the governor of the state.

“Accord Party is on a mission to emancipate our people from poverty to prosperity. Given its human and mineral resources, Kogi State has been hindered by infrastructure deficits in the past 32 years.”

He, specifically, urged his supporters to work hard for the success of the Accord Party in the next governorship election, calling on the electorate to support his candidature.

He noted that the Accord Party “is out to address all the problems confronting Kogi State,” expressing determination of his party to reposition the state to the next level in the next four year.

The governorship candidate also promised to establish the Kogi Information Technology Agency to address youth restiveness among the state’s teeming young population and ensure that the youths were gainfully employed in the State

He pledged to employ all the students with distinctions into the state civil service, while those with lower qualification would also be empowered one way or the other.

Usman pledged that within a few months in office, no fewer than 50 women would be empowered to become millionaires across the state through government interventions.

If elected, Usman noted that his administration “ was determined to reposition the state civil service. Salaries would be paid promptly while pensioners would be adequately taken care of.

He also pledged that the education sector would be geared toward technology driven economy to enable the state to harness resources for the overall development of Kogi State in general.