Events in Kogi State, since the emergence of Alhaji Yahaya Bello, as the Governor brings to mind Harry Frankfurts Essay titled On Bulls**t.In the Essay, the author tries to grapple with why people talk too out of point and contends that such is unavoidable whenever circumstances require someone to talk without knowing what he is talking about. Thus the production of inanities is stimulated whenever a persons obligations or opportunities to speak about some topic are more excessive than his knowledge of the facts that are relevant to that topic. This discrepancy is common in public life, where people are frequently impelled whether by their own propensities or by the demands of others to speak extensively about matters of which they are to some degree ignorant. Closely related instances arise from the widespread conviction that it is the responsibility of a citizen in a democracy to have opinions about everything, or at least everything that pertains to the conduct of his countrys affairsIn Kogi state, where crap mongers have being on the loose since the emergence of the Governor, Yahaya Bello, tongues have not ceased wagging. Large colonies of these characters have emerged on the airwaves and pages of newspapers misrepresenting and misinforming the public about events in the state to give misleading impressions.Though bad losers in the 2015 governorship election in the state, who went to court have also lost up to the Appeal Court, they have continued to engage in shadow boxing and in spreading rubbish outside the court room to create maximum confusion and distract from issues of governance.What this cult fails to say is that the resources of the state have been plundered by corruption and profligacy of past administrations that left behind high debt profile with no reasonable justification.They fail to ask questions about the projects that were funded by the huge external debts hanging on the state. Yet, the reality is that at every allocation of funds from the federation account, huge slice of the state fund is deducted by the federal revenue allocation committee to service unexplained debts.For example, at the distribution of revenue allocation to states by the federal government for the months of March/April 2012, as published by the Federal Ministry of Finance, a total sum of N18,184,944.18 was deducted by the allocation committee as external debt owed by the Kogi State government.The Ministry also published that for the month of September/October 2013, N13, 838,370.33 was deducted as external debt and another N32, 320,824.48 was deducted under the sub-head, other deductions. In the November/December 2013, allocation, N13, 638,370.33 was also deducted as external debt and another N37, 289,893.00 was deducted as other deductions.At the release of December/January 2016 revenue allocation, Kogi State lost N15,884,102.50 of its revenue to external debt, lost another N446,132,000.00 to contractual obligation and another N10,759,110.04 to other deductions.Thus in the December/January 2016, revenue allocation, Kogi States net take away from the federal allocation committee was a paltry N2,812,746,011.57 while the total gross stood at N3,085,521,224.57. It fell from the N4, 739,783,141.50 that was the total net pay for November/December 2013 when the total gross stood at N4, 790, 910, 737,.37.The total net pay for the state in September/October 2013 was N3, 955,323,703.22 while the total gross was N4001482, 898.61. In March/ April 2012, the total net pay that went to the state was N4,027,290,542.89 where the total gross was N4,321,447,362.07 and in March/April 2012 total gross stood at N4,321,447,362.07 and total Net was N4,027,290,542.89.In their bitter criticisms against the Governor, who may have inherited a virtually empty treasury, the cult fail to appreciate the dramatic reduction in the revenue accruing to the state from the Federation account' They fail to appreciate that despite the bad financial situation he met in the state, the Governor has not imposed any harsh taxation regime that could make life more difficult for the people to generate additional revenue to meet the short fall.The cult also fail to appreciate that upon assumption of office as the sixth Governor of the state, Yahaya Bello inherited a State House of Assembly that was on the boil over leadership crisis, demoralised civil service and retired senior citizens of the state that were left starving as salaries and pensions were unpaid for upward of three months. He also inherited, communities that were alienated from the state government, as distribution of development projects was skewed leaving the disadvantaged communities to suffer deprivation of living without electricity, good source of clean drinking water, good community roads, decaying educational institutions while Youth unemployment rate remain high as vast, fertile farm land is abandoned and left idle in a largely agrarian state.The cult failed to explain to Kogites, where they were when the state resources were being plundered and cases of corruption were being truncated at the High Court and at the Code of Conduct Tribunal. If they failed to crucify those corrupt past leaders who failed the state by their greedy and selfish tendencies that has left the people badly under developed, impoverished and deeply divided along ethnic lines.Harry Frankfurt gave these lines a critical thought this way, The point of these lines is clear. In the old days, craftsmen did not cut corners. They worked carefully, and they took care with every aspect of their work. Every part of the product was considered, and each was designed and made to be exactly as it should be. These craftsmen did not relax their thoughtful self-discipline even with respect to features of their work which would ordinarily not be visible. Although no one would notice if those features were not quite right, the craftsmen would be bothered by their consciences. So nothing was swept under the rug. Or, one might perhaps also say, there was no bulls**tFollowing from these lines, there is crap everywhere in the politics of Kogi State and it is either that the cultoes not recognise it or they are insincere.If they would agree that governance is an art, the situation Governor Yahaya Bello met in Kogi state, clearly shows that past administrations in the state were not as careful or meticulous, as the craftsmen of old in laying proper foundation for growth and development.The consequences of this failure in planning are the suffering and deprivation that may have been brought upon the people of Kogi state, today.Thus, complains of discomfort or lack of appreciable development in the state remains the iconography of past treasury looters of the state. The right step taken by Governor Bello, so far, includes the screening of workers and pensioners to eliminate cases of ghost workers upon which some corrupt state officials have been feeding fat.This is why the governor must be encouraged to toe the line of the All Progressive Congressled federal government, to go after those treasury looters. While this may not go down well with the beneficiaries of corruption in the state, it would mitigate for the victims of corruption.In these, Governor Yahaya Bello deserves sympathy and not condemnation and all the hostile criticisms that have trailed his ascendancy to office. Otherwise, why crucify a man for the sins he never committed or has not committed' Enough of the crap on the Governor that the state may move forward!Zubair can be reached on hybridbc@ yahoo.com
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