“Your Excellency Sir, Kindly Beam your Inspection Compass on Okene Water Project” – An Open Letter to His Excellency, Gov. Yahaya Bello

An Open Letter to His Excellency, Governor Yahaya Bello, theExecutive Governor of Kogi State

Your Excellency sir, kindly beam your inspection compass on Okene Water Project

Written by: Bello Abdulhameed Ivavah

Your Excellency Sir, I want to use this opportunity to once again appreciate you for your avowed determination to revamp the erstwhile decrepit state of infrastructure across the state. Also appreciated is your recent and timely effort to tour and assess the ongoing projects within and outside Lokoja, where you commended and condemned appropriately their respective handlings by contractors.

Your Excellency, you would remember that in your effort to ameliorate the suffering of the masses and improve the well being of citizens especially in Kogi Central, you graciously contracted Okene Water Board project in your first tenure which was backed up humongous sum of money. The news that Ebira people would have potable water in their households gladdened their heart and affirmed that you are truly son of the soil who knows the yearnings, aspirations and sufferings of his people.

Unfortunately, this has become a tall dream as the much-needed water project has been subdued callously by mindless and inhuman corruption, avarice, self aggrandisement, parochial interest , egocentric and diversion of funds by some of your trusted Lieutenants in your first tenure.

As an objective individual and a core DATA BOY and a promoter of your government , I have taken much of my time to critically analyse the administration under your watch. I have drawn this distinct and unequivocal facts that you are indeed a developmentalist, a project warrior and a succor vaccine for all infrastructural decay. You have worked tirelessly to ensure that long after you leave office, your signature projects live on. However, as a leader, we know that you are not omnipresent but some of your lieutenants saddled with this responsibilities of executing tangible projects are misusing funds to the detriment of the people of Kogi State with particular reference to Okene Water project, thereby eroding your effort

Needles to admit here that it would be a collective slap on our face and generational insult if decades of acute water scarcity across Ebiraland cannot be addressed squarely before the end of your eight-year tenure. It may amount to leaving your abode in ignoble filth and stench thinking that unknown sojourners would clean the mess. This is practically impossible because charity they say, begins at home.

As a leader on whose shoulder the destiny of the state is squarely placed at this material time, the accolades and knocks of this administration lie on your personality and we know that to avoid untoward situation especially as regards execution of the water project, you swiftly constituted the committee which has obviously failed in their assignment.

Your Excellency sir, It is very unfortunate and disheartening to notify you that the said “water board” in question is still in shamble state and total comatose despite your effort, thus the victim of such area are still suffering from acute water supply of which our prayer points right now (which may not be granted) is for God to sustain the raining season longer than before. Dry season is near and Ebira women will soon resume hunting for water in the mountainous and upland topography amidst wanton case of kidnapping! Just like you expressed displeasure over the shabby handling of Kogi State Specialist Hospital yesterday, I use this opportunity to implore you to call all actors, saboteurs and enemies of Ebira people that were involved in the water project to account for their embezzlement.

Your Excellency, this call for accountability is imperative because the only achievement of those involved in the water project is to procure fake pictures to mislead you to believe them that the project has been successfully implemented and completed to the benefit of the people that it is meant to served. While in reality the people of the central are in agony, crying out aloud that this time is the best time for solutions, and this ugly scenario is capable of eroding your good legacies in Kogi Central, Your Home Town!

While in actual fact, there is nothing on ground to justify the huge sums released to the committee for the execution of the project, it is against this backdrop, we condemn in strong terms this broad day light failure, robbery and insult on the intelligent people of Kogi Central Senatorial District.

Your Excellency Gov. Yahaya Bello I wish to as a matter of urgency plead with you to take a bold steps by visiting the area for inspection to see the true state of the project to enable you take inform position on the way forward and ask the committee to give an account on how the huge sum was spent with little or nothing on ground to show for it, contrary to their report and claims that the project have been completed.

Your recent condemnation of substandard execution of ongoing renovation on Kogi State Specialist Hospital Lokoja has once again reiterated your passion for tangible development and that propelled me to write this letter on behalf of the entire Ebira people who are gnashing their teeth as a result of painful pangs of acute shortage of potable water. We hope and anticipate for plausible solutions as soon as this piece gets to you.

Bello Abdulhameed Ivavah
Writes from Ajaokuta LGA
The Home Of Steel
28th Sep 2021