Kogi fights insecurity with 104 vehicles, 1,000 bikes •I won’t repeat past govt mistakes, Bello says

Kogi State government, on Thursday, said it has acquired  about  104 Hilux vans to be distributed to law enforcement agencies operating in the state in its bid to combat kidnapping, robbery and other social vices.

This is just as the state governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, said he was not ready to repeat the mistakes of  past governments,  adding that  his administration would ensure infrastructural development of the state.

The vehicles to be distributed as part of activities marking the 25th anniversary of the creation of the state would be given to the Nigeria  Army, Police, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), the   State Security Service (SSS,) among others.

The governor, who spoke through his special adviser  on media and strategy, Abdulmalik Abdulkareem, who stated this at a press conference to herald the  25th anniversary of the creation of the state,said the government also procured 1000 motorcycles to be distributed to security agents and vigilance groups to  deal with criminals in the state.

He described the silver jubilee as a special one  that  coincided with the much-needed positive change in the state,  adding  that his emergence was  divinely arranged to change the fortune of the state for better.

He said the staff screening exercise embarked upon by his government was meant to clean the payroll and make more money available for projects that would positively affect the people of the state.

According to the governor, he did not want to run the state like past governments that struggled to pay staff salaries and ended up without developing infrastructure.

According to him, the non- existence of major infrastructure across the state  after its creation was worrisome, pledging to correct the situation with the “New direction” approach of his administration.

He, however, blamed the development on the lack of  political will of past administrations to ascertain the number of workers on their payroll, thereby resulting in using money for the development of the state on ghost workers.

He also said efforts were ongoing to commence the implementation of the monetisation policy on political office holders in the state with the provision of offcial vehicles that would be paid for by such office holders.

He added that government had entered into partnership with private developer to build houses for commissioners and other top government functionaries on owner-occupier basis.