By Dirisu Yakubu

A group, ‘Got Your Back Nigeria’ has commended Kogi state governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello over what it called his phenomenal achievements across major sectors of the state economy in the year 2021.

National coordinator of the group, Prof. Chris Mustapha Nwaokobia Jnr, in a press statement described 2021 as a spectacular year for Bello and Kogi state “given the feats recorded by the governor in many areas.”

According to the statement, 2021 was “a year with many twists and turns, a year of benumbing and bewildering politics; a year that saw a mercurial phenomenon on top of his game. It was an awesome year for Governor Yahaya Bello and Kogi state.

He continued: “From the high point of GYB’s dogged insistence that Nigeria must interrogate the COVID-19 pandemic and grow indigenous approach to it, to the deployment of the COVID-19 stimulus package into building one of the biggest medical facilities in West Africa;

“From running the most successful youth-centric, youth centred and all inclusive administration in Nigeria, for which so many awards adorn his stable, to running the most gender sensitive and inclusive administration in the whole of Africa;

“From surviving a very wicked and most impish and devious machination ditto the rumoured placing of funds meant for salaries in Kogi state in a profit yielding account in Sterling Bank, to the World Bank rating of Kogi state as top in fiscal and financial discipline in governance in Nigeria;

“From winning the Sun Newspapers Man of the Year Award to winning the New Telegraph Newspapers Most Youth Friendly Governor of the Year Award;

“From the recognition and award for Outstanding Governor in the Area of Education by the Nigerian Union of Journalists NUJ Lagos State chapter, to the Award as an Exemplary Leader by the Nigerian Union of Journalists (national), and the award of the Torchbearer on Security by the Nigerian Union of Journalists Abuja Chapter;

“From taking Kogi state where Boko Haram had her Improvised Explosive Devices-making factory to the safest state in the entire north and from taking Lokoja, the state capital to a new high where Lokoja is no longer just a capital city but indeed one of the fastest growing cities in Africa. It has been GYB all the way,” the statement read in part.

The group also commended the governor for “clearing the backlog of salaries he inherited upon being sworn in as governor,” stressing that the North Central state now sit top on the log of states that pay medical and health workers and others as at when due.

The statement further read: “From a state that had no functional rice mill to receive raw materials from her numerous rice farmers to the state with one of the most functional rice mills in Nigeria. From hundreds of thousands, if not millions of unemployable youths across the state to a state with one of the best skills acquisition and informal education centres; From the Kogi State University being one of the least funded tertiary institution in Nigeria, to a Kogi State University being one of the most funded and improved tertiary institution in the country. It has been GYB all the way.”

The group further called on Nigerians to queue behind the aspiration of the youthful governor in his quest to contest the highest elective office in the land in 2023.