By Joseph Edegbo
Kaduna (Nigeria) — Kogi Journalists Forum (KJF), has condemned in strong terms the recent sponsored publications in some national dailies, names of the entire civil servants by the Kogi State government to disguisedly convince Nigerians that they had been paid their salaries.
The money wasted on this ill – advised exercise would have been used to settle the backlog of salaries of workers in some ministries or agencies.
The Forum, a body of journalists from Kogi State based in Kaduna, northwest Nigeria, stated this in a communique at the end of its meeting to deliberate on what it calls a disturbing situation in Kogi, north central of the country.
The journalists who see the situation as a total failure in their home state, asked all leaders of thought and friends across the country to speak to the Governor to have a change of mind.
According to the communique,”It is no longer news that workers in the state are not being paid and the state government has continued with propaganda aimed at hoodwinking the people.
Truth must be told, that Kogi has never had it so bad since its creation.
Government programmes and policies are yet to touch the lives of the people, rather it continued embarking on  an endless verification exercise leading to the deaths of innocent Kogites.
“Recently, a senior civil servant whose wife gave birth to triplets committed suicide by hanging himself because of the failure of government to pay salary.
The administration reportedly mis used the bailout funds to purchase vehicles for police and traditional rulers. This colossal fund could have squarely gone a long way in tackling some  of the challenges bedeviling the state.
“We condemn government’s resort to attack on personalities when issues concerning the state are raised. The Journalists are wondering why millions of naira should be used by the state government in publishing names of workers it claimed to have paid.
“We see this as a dearth of administrative incompetence on the part of Yahaya Bello and his media team. This is an unnecessary expenditure on the part of government and we condemn it.
“The state government should immediately put its acts together and settle workers salary if the administration is worthy being at the Lugard House.
“It is divinely unpardonable to deny workers the fruit of their labour.
“Workers are being owed salaries of 21 and government is not worried, haba.
“This government on assumption of office timidly demolished roundabouts in Lokoja, the State capital and up till now, it has not been able to rebuild them, the people must talk, they  cannot keep mute.
“The silence of APC and the Presidency over the plight of Kogi people is a sign of conspiracy against the people that voted enmass for the party in 2015 “, the communiqué frowned.
