By Dada Ahmed.
Governor Yahaya Adoza Bello.
About six months from now, precisely on January 27, 2024, all things being equal, the 8-year administration of Governor Yahaya Adoza Bello in Kogi State will come to an end and he will pass the baton of leadership to a new governor to continue steering the ship of the state for the next four years.
As politicians warm for another campaign, preparatory to the governorship election on November 11, 2023, one basic fact stands clear, the GYB administration presents different perspectives to different people in the state and beyond the shores of Kogi.
The reason for the subjective perception of the present administration, as it were, is not far-fetched.
The flyover at Ganaja junction, the first in Kogi state, is considered one of the best legacy projects of the GYB administration.
However, the different views about the administration notwithstanding, the inescapable fact remains that, the Bello-led administration has been able to raise the bar of revenue generation in the state tremendously according to political feelings in many quarters in the state.
Empirical evidence, demonstrated by the state government is that there is glaring evidence that the present administration in the state has used taxpayers' money for infrastructural and human development cutting across the three senatorial districts of the state in a manner many adjudge to be just and fair.
The focus of this piece, therefore, is a peep into the efforts of the GYB government in the area of revenue generation and the utilization of such crucial resources to execute viable projects for the good of the people.
Experience has shown that in many cases, when people bare mind the performance of the government in discharging its statutory responsibility of providing facilities and security, to make life meaningful for the people, the role of revenue generation in the success of such conscious effort is often neglected in most conversations.
Some political analysts, either by omission or commission, tend to base their assessment of government competence or capability(federal or state) to provide good governance for the well-being of the citizens or change the sorry state of the material upliftment of the downtrodden for good, basically on infrastructural development.
This project is sited at Adankolo in Lokoja.
To this class of people, the judgment of the government of the people by the people and for the people, often referred to as democracy, in terms of fulfilling the principle of the social contract signed with the people, starts and ends with the construction of roads, the building of housing estates for workers, provision of potable water, ensuring health facilities and education for the people.
However, on the contrary, empirical evidence shows that the ability of a government, particularly the democratically elected one, to ensure even distribution of dividends of democracy to the people, especially the one we have in Kogi state, largely lies in its ability to generate adequate revenue for the implementation of its programs and policies effectively.
This is because, for all intends and purposes, the significance of revenue generation to ensure the success of any government cannot be overemphasized as it is often said that money forms the basic foundation upon which all other factors of performance of any government depend.
In his speech during the inauguration of the Revenue House, the Governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, expressed the determination of his government to serve the people of the state with utmost dedication to the cause of developing the state in all ramifications. But he was also conscious of the fact, that he needs money to achieve these lofty programs and policies.
He, however, promised that such revenue would be used to better all citizens, irrespective of political affiliation among other divisive expressions.
This is in line with the oath of office and allegiance he took on January 27, 2016, when he was sworn in for the first time as the governor of the state
It is instructive at this juncture to note that Yahaya Bello is the first citizen of Kogi Central Senatorial District of the Kogi state to be the governor of the state, since the creation of the state on August 27, 1991, by the regime of General Ibrahim Badamaisiu Babangida.
Armed with a fundamental mindset of generating revenue as one of the cardinal objectives of his government, Governor Bello of the ruling All Progressives Congress( APC)and his committed lieutenants waste no time in setting in motion, concrete financial infrastructure to achieve their aims and objectives of providing good government for the people.
This is the administration set to achieve by sanitizing the revenue administration to boost the revenue profile of the state.
Emerald Scanner machine at the Reference Hospital, Okene.
Political analysts, especially those who share Bello's philosophy of purposeful government, describe the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria graduate as a politician who believes, passionately in raising the bar of human and infrastructural development of the state, its citizens, and other residents to enviable heights.
But the governor, in articulating his programs and policies to bring
real improvement for the people is also mindful of the imperative of generating adequate revenue to enable him to fulfill the social contract he signed with the people during his campaign, hence making an effort to recruit competent hands to manage the revenue processes for better results.
Bello is also quite mindful of the enormity of the role of government to the people which centers on the provision o roads, electricity, potable education, social services, security of life and property as well as environmental protection.
Fired by the zeal for these services for the people, Governor Bello caused the thorough reorganization of KGIRS, replacing staff with tested and competent management to run the organization with the admonition for them to shun corrupt tendencies.
With that mission accomplished and KGIRS peopled with brand new staffers to execute its revenue drive, the governor set in motion the process of building a magnificent office complex to give comfort to the workforce of the Service, elicit their maximum productivity and bring about increased revenue for the state.
This was accomplished in record time and Kogi state now boosts of a Revenue House, described as the pride of the state located on the popular Murtala Mohammed road, Lokoja. Others say the edifice can be also likened to a tourism site, given its fascinating features.
Besides the office, the Executive Chairman of KGIRS, Alhaji Salihu Sule Enehe, acknowledged that Governor Bello laid the solid foundation for the outstanding performance of the staff of the Service in revenue generation, providing the management and staff with the environment that geared them towards accomplishing greater productivity.
Reeling out the giant strides of KGIRS under the watch of the governor and the effective execution of tax administration by the management and staff of the Service, the executive chairman said that the Service embarked on several pragmatic programs to boost the revenue profile of the state with a success story to show for it.
Alhaji Sule Salihu Enehe.
Executive Chairman, KGIRS.
In the May-Jul,2023 KGIRS News Letter edition, Enehe disclosed that KGIRS generated N18 billion in 2023 while targeting N23 billion revenue for 2023 and the news gladdens many hearts.
A competent source in KGIRS revealed that before Governor Bello took over the mantle of leadership of the state in 2016, KGIRS was generating about N250 million annually.
"When Senator Yakubu Oseni came in as the executive chairman, at the inception of this administration, our revenue generation jumped from N250 million per year to N1 billion per year and it has been on tremendous improvement since then," the source explained.
A financial expert, Mal. Mohammed Abdullahi, said the performance of the administration of Governor Yahaya Bello, especially in the area of revenue generation, had surpassed all his predecessors.
"Having inherited a revenue-generating organization, whose monthly revenue effort was appalling, he was able to transform KGIRS into a vibrant organization that generated N18 billion in 2022 and aiming to generate N23 billion in 2023," Abdullahi said.
The Commissioner for Education, Science, and Technology, Mr.Weni Jones, explained the achievements of the state government in the area of education to journalists during a public function in Okene.
Enehe further revealed that the Service also leveraged the favorable enabling environment provided by the Bello government to fully embrace the use of technology to improve tax compliance in its operations to consolidate its achievements attained so far.
He expressed optimism that through improved service delivery, via technology, the state could conveniently generate a N23 billion revenue target contained in the 2023 budget.
The Executive Chairman, who noted that the world had gone the way of technological innovation for ease of doing business and rendering services, stressed that the Service had enhanced convenience, efficiency, and productivity in e-tax services to ensure that issues concerning touting and leakages in tax receipts become a thing of the past.
"The e-tax would henceforth cause improved management of tax payments in the State as the Service gears towards improving better service delivery in the State, he added.
"Beginning from 2023, KGIRS will establish tax stations in all the local government areas, to offer services relating to tax payment and through the electronic-Tax Clearance Certificate(TCC) Solution", Enehe hinted.
Other services to further make revenue generation a seamless process, according to him, include, "e-tax payment, pre-tax receiving, e-filing, pre-tax portal, taxpayer registration and verification, and personal income, including the under-exploited informal sector."
He said the Service had also motivated the staff through prompt payment of salaries, promotion of staff,f and give other incentives, as and when due to enhance their productivity and bring about increased revenue.
Tax administrators believe that tax collection is important for the government to execute programs but more important is the fact that such money must be utilized in a just manner for the benefit of the people, irrespective of divisive expressions.
Enehe thanked the governor and his team for giving strength to KGIRS, through the provision conducive atmosphere to perform to the best of its ability.
Allying with the submission of KGIRS boss, an APC card-carrying member in Lokoja, Mal. Sani Mohammed observed that the Bello government had done well by putting the right caliber of staff and management in the tax administration of the state.
The Managing director, of Sokodabo Motors, Lokoja who is also a strong member of the ruling APC party in the state, Alhaji Usman Umar, expressed satisfaction that the present administration in the state had utilized taxpayers' money judiciously to boost infrastructural development of physical and enhance human resources thereby enhancing. the aesthetic value of the state.
He was emphatic about the transformation of the Education, Health, Works, and human development sectors by the GYB government.
"His Excellency, the governor of the state, Alhaji Yahaya Adoza Bello, has proved beyond any reasonable doubt that he is a focused and forthright politician and a leader of note who wants to leave a worthy legacy for the incoming government and posterity.
"Of particular interest to me, in terms of the infrastructural transformation of the state, is the Ganaja fly-over bridge. Before, now that junction used to witness accidents and traffic jams but since this administration constructed the flyover, we don't witness such tragedy again.
The motor dealer who resides in Lokoja, the state capital said the people of Lokoja would not forget in a hurry, the massive road reconstruction carried out by the GYB government, adding that this has improved traffic, the social and economic life of the inhabitants and those transiting the area to other parts of the country.
Umar, who said he developed a natural love for Bell for exhibiting administrative dexterity in governance, devoid of tribalism, recalled that in the first four years of his government, Bello was able to put the revenue house in order, a development he noted had translated into an impressive performance of the revenue agency manifesting in a tremendous increase in revenue generation.
In various public fora, Bello often explains that his government has been using the internally generated revenue for the execution of projects tailored towards making a direct impact on the lives of all the citizens across the three Senatorial districts of the state.
In his address during his presentation of the 2023 draft budget of over N170 billion to the State House of Assembly, last November, for consideration and passage, Bello noted that "despite shortfalls in funding the 2022 budget, we still recorded above average completions in projects and target set for the period."
He added:" We completed hundreds of kilometers of new and reconstructed roads in the 3 senatorial districts and opened them up for use by our people.
"The Ganaja flyover and interchange in Lokoja was completed and put to use along with a considerable network of township roads, vastly improving the traffic situation in our state.
"Massive erosion works at Anpka, Ogugu, Ozuri, and other places were completed in conjunction with the Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project( NEWMAP)."
The governor expressed delight that the effort rescued those communities and thousands of citizens who reside in them from the threat of flooding and environmental degradation, made worse by climate change.
Other areas where taxpayer money is spent, the governor added, include the construction of the 300-bed ReferenceHospitall, Okene, the Prince Abubakar Audu University Teaching Hospital, Anyigba, the District Hospital, Gegu-, Beki, Isanlu, and Ajaokuta.
Others are the Remodeled Specialist, Lokoja, the Muhammadu Buhari Civic Centre, Lokoja, and streetlights, among other projects completed by his administration.
A critical look at the facilities of the Reference Hospital, Okene, shows that it is one of the best if the best hospitals in Nigeria and perhaps in West Africa.
The hospital is equipped with the latest and technologically advanced hospital machines, capable of treating any kind of ailment, and health experts acknowledged that most of the equipment is hard to come by, even in old hospitals in Nigeria.
The medical equipment found in the hospital includes the Oxygen plant, Emerald Scanner, and Citi scan among others, besides the imposing office complex with modern architectural design.
The governor said his administration also established the Confluence University of Science and Technology, CUSTECH for the production of science and technological-based graduates that would contribute to laying the solid foundation for the industrial, technological, and scientific take-off of the state. The university has commenced academic activities.
According to Bello, the state government under his watch had boosted revenue receipts by identifying and blocking revenue leakages and ensuring gradual fiscal consolidation to achieve a level of public spending, consistent with macroeconomic stability and sustainable debt among other efforts.
The Chairman of the Union of Journalists, NUJ, Kogi State Council, Alhaji Adeiza Momohjimoh in his speech at a one-day symposium organized by the council in Lokoja, February 2023, also spoke the minds of journalists in a glowing tone, regarding the administration of Governor Bello.
He said," It gladdens my heart that Bello's administration has been able to secure, bridge, plaster, and paint the wall of the previous administrations while he continues to build his wall. And he is doing it to the admiration of those who love him."
On education, the number one journalist in the state noted that Bello had restored "a seamless, peaceful academic calendar at Prince Abubakar Audu University, Anyigba in addition to improving the projects of the university to ensure a conducive learning environment.
Momohjimoh substantiated, "It is no longer four years course for six or seven years, it is four years for years for which reason students from within and outside Kogi state now throng the institution to the happiness and fulfillment of their parents."
On health, the chairman said even the most ardent critic of Bello's government would agree that the state Reference Hospital, Okene represents "an excellent score" for the governor and described the facility as the best of all the health projects embarked upon by the GYB government.
The chairman is not alone in the gamut of praise landing in Lugard House for this administration's commitment to better a lot of kites.
The President of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, in his speech at the symposium, described Bello as a governor to beat in terms of infrastructural development of the state but urged him not to relent.
If the saying that no government, however benevolent it may be, can satisfy all the needs of people is anything to go by, it means that the next administration in the state, come 2024, has to be up its sleeves in wearing the big shoe to be left behind for by the Bello administration.
Political observers said it must demonstrate enough capacity and administrative dexterity, synonymous with GYB to convey kites that it merits the confidence and trust of the people to step into the shoe of Yahaya Bello.
However, some political analysts such as Alhaji Aliyu Mohammed, Habeeb Shuaibu, and others urged that the candidate of APC in the November 11 governorship election in the state, Alhaji Ododo Ahmed Usman (OAU) has a lot to do in consolidating on the achievements of Bello's administration if given the mandate to govern the state for the next political dispensation.
Supporters of APC, who believe in this school of thought, however, describe OAU as having the leadership quality and other attributes that marked him out as capable pick the mantle of leadership from where Bello will leave behind at the end of his 8-year tenure as the governor, come January 27, 2024.
Keen watchers of the political atmosphere in the state believe that the impact of the project execution in the area by the current government, cutting across the three senatorial districts of the state is a critical factor gingering marathon defection of many politicians, from other political parties to APC as noted in recent time.
Speaking on behalf of one of the groups of defectors at Lugard House, Lokoja recently, according to Nigerian Trend, an online publication in Lokoja, Abdullahi Ibrahim explained that their decision to join the APC was based on the remarkable achievements of the current administration, which has positively impacted on all local government areas in the State.
He specifically highlighted the rehabilitation of the Umomi-Akpagidigbo-Ugwolawo-Ajaka-Idah road, describing the project as a significant infrastructure in Igalamela, adding that such was a key reason for their support for Governor Bello and his party.
1 Abdullahi added that Governor Bello’s accomplishments had led to an influx of opposition party members joining the APC, assuring the governor that they were determined not to be left behind.
Abdullahi expressed their readiness to work towards securing victory for the APC in the upcoming governorship in Kogi state.
In all, it is instructive to note that, given the verdict of the larger segment of the population in the state over revenue generation and projects executed by the GYB government in Kogi state, Governor Yahaya Adoza Bello will be remembered for making a positive impact in the life of the citizens of the state in many ways.
Since the government is a continuous process, the onus will lie on the successor to consolidate Bello's achievements.
Alhaji Ahmed Usman Ododo (OAU).
(C) Twitter.
APC candidate for Nov.11, 2023, Governorship election in Kogi State.
This is to move the Kogi state to the next level of all-around realistic social, economic, and political development in line with the yearning and aspiration of Kogites and other residents who share in that noble cause.
Dada Ahmed is an online publisher and a member of, the Nigerian Guild of Editors(NGE).
Dada Ahmed is an online publisher and a member, of the Nigerian Guild of Editors(NGE).
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