Kogi deserves better devt 20 yrs after – Isa, PDP guber aspirant

 BY KINGSLEY OMONOBI

ABUJA-Kogi State governorship aspirant under the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Jibrin Isa, said yesterday that after 20 years of existence, the state could have been on a better development pedestal than what is presently on ground.

Speaking to Vanguard in Abuja, Alhaji Isa while noting that 20 years in the life of a man signaled one of maturity, argued that the issue of unemployment in the state, would be a thing of the past if he was given the opportunity as he has mapped out a blueprint that will entail making Ajaokuta Steel company and Itakpe Iron ore company work .

Alhaji Isa said: “The  Ajaokuta Steel and Itakpe Iron ore will be top priority. But because these are Federal Government projects, we also have raw materials that we can harness to create employment opportunities for people of Kogi State.

“We also intend to set up, if given the opportunity, vocational centres’, where youths can be trained in different arts and thereafter  pick up one profession or the other. 

“Talking about 20 years down the line, one major thing that we also have to look at is the internally generated revenue. That again can be partly addressed by industrialization which I have spoken about. If we have various companies springing up, we have the state government partnering with various investors; the workers are going to pay tax”.

“The government will also have equity stake participation in each of these companies. Not necessarily bringing out money or cash equity. The raw materials could be our own equity holdings in these companies. We are talking of a cement factory for example and we want to locate one in the central senatorial district.

“We can tell the investors that we estimate the limestone deposit because it can be estimated. That deposit will represent the equity participation of Kogi state in that company. While the foreign investors or the Nigerian local investors bring in cash, we take equity participation in that company by way of our ownership of the raw materials”.