By Ibrahim Hassan-Wuyo

Special Adviser on media to the Governor of Kogi State, Ismaila Isah,has said that Kogi State under the leadership of Alhaji Ahmed Usman Ododo has witnessed speedy development in every sector of governance in the last year.

The Media Aide said that the transformation in the security and agricultural sectors was unprecedented which has drawn the attention of investors to do business in the State.

Speaking to journalists when he visited the Kaduna State Council of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Secretariat ,Isa said Governor Ododo was able to listen to all voices and ensured representation for all group of people in the governance of the State.

“I am really pleased to be here to tell the Kogi story under the Administration of Alhaji Ahmed Usman Ododo, the Executive Governor of Kogi State. It’s been so good so far and that is to bring to our understanding what the Governor has done in the last one year.

“What we have succeeded in doing as an administration, is to create a trajectory that probably has never been seen in the history of the State. There have been some kind of dynamism in government, there have been deliberate attempts to bring the governance closer to the people.

“We are doing a lot in securing the lives and property of the people in Kogi State. We take the fight to terrorists because there’s no time to start negotiating with them because they cause a lot of havoc and this approach has been copied by other states like Kwara, Ekiti, Ondo, Benue and even to some extent, Niger and Nasarawa.

“So, every time we are embarking on region in all the bushes and jungles around the State, we try to enlist the support of our neighboring States so we don’t chase these terrorists and they hide in those States and come back to hunt our people.

“We increased our logistical support for security agencies by providing over 300 vehicles for security agencies in the last one year. We have also provided over 1000 specialized motor bikes that can navigate almost every terrain and that has assisted us to do a lot in terms of ensuring that our security agencies are well armed and supported.

“In the vigilante service, I am proud to note that it is enhanced and a lot of improvement have been done. Apart from the recruitment of well over 3000 people both for the vigilante service and man hunters group who are very well complementing our conventional security agencies in the State.

“The Government have also been gracious enough to increase salaries of vigilante service and they now earn over 100,000 Naira. They are well kitted, probably more combat ready than some of our conventional security agents and our neighborhood watch has been rigid with a robust network that provides almost minute by minute intelligence to our security agencies.

“Almost every community in Kogi State has people on the watch especially when you get there as a stranger and sends us intelligence and if you have no good answer you might be apprehended or reported to security agencies.

“They do this by working in nexus with our conventional security agencies and we are committed to embarking on clearance operation in all the States that borders our State. So, we are always going after terrorists and that has largely paid off, which is why it’s now safer to move around in Kogi unlike before, but now we are doing things differently.

“We are very grateful for the support we are enjoying from our top military and paramilitary leaders who are really pushing their men to put their lives on the line to make sure our people can sleep with their two eyes closed”. Isah said.

Speaking on agricultural sector, the Media Aide disclosed that, “We currently have about 76 farm clusters in Kogi State covering up to 10,000 hectares of land that has been cultivated by over 8,000 farmers in the immediate past wet season.

“For the coming wet season, we are planning to do between 25,000 to 50,000 hectares of land and there’s something unique about what we are doing in agriculture because unlike some other States, we have been able to recover and refurbish over 150 tractors with all the components that enable us to prepare land, tilt the places and also deploy planters and even harvesters in preparation for the new farming season.

“What is also interesting is that, Government is providing all the implements, all the seedlings, the inputs including fertilizers for free. Our round the year farming which was flagged off recently with our dry season farming witnessed a lot of input from the government.

“So far, we have invested over 10 billion Naira in agriculture and with the refurbishment that we did of over 150 tractors, the government under the Administration of Alhaji Ahmed Usman Ododo, saved well over 20-50 Billion Naira that would have been spent in buying all those tractors anew.

“What we did was to recover some from States as far as Enugu, Niger, Nasarawa and maybe Kaduna but almost all our neighboring States, we were able to recover all those tractors and refurbish them and put them to use by the Farmers,”he said