Sallah Bazaar;Kogi Governor,Top Government Officials Splash 500,000 Dollars Kogi Funds On Dubai Trip.
Wickedness of the highest authority, the careless and arrogant governor of kogi state Alhaji Bello known for every wrong reasons after selective payment of one month salary to less than thirty percent of his cleared list has jet out of the country for his comfort and enjoyment,
Paucity of funds,lack of political will and deliberate persecution of kogi workers and pensioners at the state and local government did not preclude kogi governor,Alhaji Yahaya Bello from embarking on a lesser hajj expending the tax payers money According to sources,the trip had gulped over 500,000 United state dollars excluded hotel accommodation,other logistics in Dubai and estacode for his entourage that was put to about 300,000 Dollars The decision to embark on trip to Dubai jamboree with the state funds underscore the recent controversies arising from the unilateral approval obtained by the governor through the back door from the speaker of kogi state house of Assembly,Mathew Kolawole without recourse to the whole house and borrowed 12 billion naira from the consortium of banks meant to offset arrears of workers salaries and pensioners The bogus trip of the governor with his cohorts and few kitchen cabinet members and sycophants had gulped another 300,000 dollars for hotelaccommodation,estacode and other miscellaneous expenses Another source cofirnmed that the kogi governor amidst controversies leased out and mortgaged some of the assets of the state government both in Lagos,lokoja and Abuja to attract advances from the consortium of banks, solely to pay workers and pensioners outstanding salaries only to obtain the funds and paid just one month salary for the state workforce,leaving the fate of local council workers in a precarious situation With the critical situation of workers and pensioners in the state along with the invitation of NLC,national body of attention of ILO to the lackadaisical and deliberate attitude of the state government not to pay workers salaries,low purchasing power of an average kogi workers,it became misplaced priority the spending spree of the governor and his entourage to lesser hajj was counter productive Governor Bello who recently cried out over huge deductions from state federal allocations, owing to multiple loans and advances repayment attracted by the state government, refused to inculcate fiscal discipline in managing the resources of the state with chunk of the acclaimed improved IGR channeled towards servicing other commitment and exposure created since his inception in the last two and half years It will be recalled that the state sole banker,access bank recently deducted over 6 billion naira from the 7.1 billion naira allocation,windfall and state support funds from the federal government leaving a meagre amount of over 1 billion that could not offset salaries of workers and political appointees for a month,hence throwing the state goverment expectations off balance The spending of over 100 million naira state funds on dubai trip had no direct positive bearing/benefit on the economy of the state particularly as it was meant to waste scarce resources,pacify his political cohorts and concubines at this critical times in the life of the state Some of his political appointees that include his commissioners,special advisers,SSAs,chairmen of board of commissions,agencies and parastatals have grumbled to their close associates over lack of readiness of the governor to pay their salaries and arears subjecting them to unnecessary hardship Most of the projects inherited by the state government and the ones initiated only existed on the face book pages with nothing to show on ground as progress of the Jobs Appointees have threatened to throw in the towel if the trend persists, as there is no improvement on the side of the state government