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By Friday Idachaba, Lokoja.
Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo.
Kogi State Government in a deliberate effort to stem the tide of heightened inflation, hunger and deprivation in the state, has concluded plans to flag-off the first Quarterly Palliative Programme in the next two weeks.
Mallam Ismail Isah, Special Adviser (Media) to Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo disclosed this at a “One-day Media Training on Human Rights and Social Inclusion” for practising journalists on Saturday in Lokoja.
The training was organized by Stallion Times in the Collaborative Media Project (Collaborating for media Independence and Government Accountability) with support from the Wole Soyinka Center for Investigative Journalism, funded by the MacArthur Foundation.
Isah said that the governor was quite aware of the hardships being faced by citizens of the state saying, “We’re all aware of the heightened inflation, hunger, and deprivation that has really eaten deep into Nigerian families. A lot of us are feeling the heat everywhere.”
Isah said the state government would also embark on deliberate profiling of communities and demarcation of boundaries and areas of influence of all community leaders in the state in furtherance of its engagement with communities.
He said that the government had prioritized the role of traditional rulers over the years adding that the profiling would help to address issues of insecurity and involvement of community leaders in interventions by government.
He said that government would be more coordinated in its efforts and interventions in communities in terms of monetary and other packages to ameliorate the hardships.
The Special Adviser said, “Beyond appointments and inclusivity in governance, there will be deliberate efforts to reach out to women and youths with emphasis on their participation and inclusivity in governance.
“The Kogi State government, under His Excellency Alhaji Ahmed Usman Ododo is very committed to inclusion taking off from where the immediate past administration left.
“The past administration, for the first time in the history of Nigeria, had females as vice-chairmen of the Local Government Councils and Council Leaders at that level of government.
“I think that trajectory will not change. It’s going to continue, and the new government is going to build on that. In the past administration, we had one female Commissioner but this time around, we already have two.
“The Commissioner for Women Affairs and the Commissioner for Humanitarian Affairs. Two Very important ministries. So, we hope that there will be more participation of youths or younger people in the government, which is also an element of inclusion”, he said.
He promised Stallion Times to be part of its planned Dialogue Mechanism to further the level of community participation and inclusivity in governance.
“I’m particularly glad about the creation of the dialogue mechanism that you have promised to put up and I want to assure you that being a practising journalist still, despite my new role, I will want to be involved in this dialogue mechanism.
“I also promise that I will be involved all the way. Whatever support we can give in this regard, I will be ready to see that it comes to fruition”, added.
The Special Adviser emphasized the need for teamwork and feedback from journalists to shape the narrative of the new government as a servant of the people.
