Kogi to Boost Nigeria’s Economy

 

Kogi State governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, recently organised an economic and investment summit which took place at the Glass House, Government House in Lokoja. The summit attracted eminent personalities such as Vice-President, Professor Yemi Osibanjo, the governor of Kebbi, Alhaji Atiku Bagudu, the deputy governor of Edo, Philip Shaibu and the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Kayode Fayemi.

Others include, the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Steven Ocheni, the Ooni Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, and many others.Osinbajo in his address said the federal government had supported the 36 states of the federation with N1.19 trillion naira as at September 2017.

He said the funds were made available to enable the states meet the challenges of shortage of funds for the execution of programmes in their respective states.

He also disclosed that the funds had enabled some state governments to embark on capital expenditures.
According to him, the funds were made available through the excess crude account, the Paris Club refund, loans among others to the states.

He explained that parts of the funds were the entitlements of the state that they legally had access to, while some of them were loans to be repaid.

The Vice-President noted that the present administration had the highest capital expenditures in two years, adding that these were evident in the ongoing railway line construction, road constructions, hydropower projects.

He said the summit came at the right time that the country was trying to reduce its dependence on oil and increase its non-oil income with the promotion of agriculture and the abundant solid mineral resources across the country.

Osinbajo said Kogi State is strategically located with vast mineral resources that could make it a hub of commercial activities, adding that the summit was capable of reinvigorating and inspiring the people.

The state governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, said the summit was packaged to change the identity of the 27 years old state from a civil service state to an industrialised one.

He said his administration had in the last two years prepared the ground for economic and industrial breakthroughs for the state by solving the problems that had been hindering economic growth in the state.
Bello said the state was now safe for investors and investments, adding that the problem of security had been combated.

 

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