THE Kogi state governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, on Sunday said he owes nobody apology over the crop of people working with him for the past 20 months.
The governor also said he was ready to embrace dialogue when necessary in order to resolve the industrial crisis ravaging the state.
Speaking during a statewide broadcast to the people of the state in commemoration of the 57th independence anniversary of the country, Bello said his government had been able to shun ethnicity in its approach to governance.
According to him, one of the major problems facing the state before the coming of his government was ethnicity, which had hindered its development.
He said, “I continue striving to exemplify inclusive leadership. I am glad that none of my traducers has accused me of ethnicism or tribalism yet. If anything, some persons are angry at me for not stuffing cabinet and other organs of government with my own kith and kin. I do not owe anyone an apology on this score.
“From the inception of my administration, I have ensured that proportional representation of constituencies across the three senatorial districts, as well as the personal merits of individual appointees, has determined who serves wherein government. This posture is founded on my belief that one does not effect change by doing the same old things the same old ways.
“In order to force a paradigm and generational shift in politics, I realise that I must keep justice, equity and merit as the moral compass for the government. The only way politics in Nigeria can change to accommodate more young people in high positions of leadership is for youths already in leadership to demonstrate competence and capacity to lead. I shall not speak for others but I repeat a solemn guarantee to succeed well as Governor of Kogi State”.
Bello said his administration had made tremendous progress since it came on board on January 27, 2016, saying he was racing to achieve as much as time and funds would permit.
On the ongoing strike action embarked upon by the organised labour in the state, he said, “the administration will continue to apply dialogue where it can make a difference in any industrial dispute.
“However, at this stage in our Public Service and Pension Reforms, we have a duty to pay more attention to the law, including the Public Service Rules as well as the sustainability of the reforms we are putting in place. The whims and caprices of vested interests cannot, therefore, be admitted to determine our responses in any way.
We do not understand what could possibly be wrong with putting into the hands of individual workers the tools to determine their own rating (and therefore progress) on the job, even after we have left office. Our aim with the clock-in, clock-out devices which labour leaders are rejecting is to empower each worker to leave a digital footprint which authenticates his or her participation during the typical workday.
“If this aim is defeated, all of the aspirations of genuine and conscientious workers to be assessed based on actual performance will remain a mirage, like in the past”.
The governor admitted that prompt payment of salaries was still a vexed issue, but promised to do his best to keep the workers happy given the competing demands on the income of the state.
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