Ahmed Ibrahim Aruwa is a seasoned banker who has made up his mind to run for the governorship of Kogi State in 2019....
In this exclusive interview, Aruwa said though, he is yet
to pitch tent with any political party, he has already formed political
structures in the 21 local government areas of the state to help in
prosecuting his gubernatorial ambition.
As a stakeholder in Kogi politics, how would you assess the administration of Governor Yahaya Bello so far?
Running an administration can be difficult sometimes, but
whatever you are doing in this life, it needs some improvements. The
state as it is now, needs some improvements. As a government, there are
some challenges and it is when one gets there that he can see these
challenges. But for me, looking at some parameters, I think there is
room for improvement of the State.
Kogi State as it is today is riddled with financial
crises; from ghost workers to backlog of salary arrears of the civil
servants. As a financial expert how do you intend to handle the
situation if you become governor?
The first thing I will do is to work on the budget; the
question I will ask is, do they have a running budget? Yes because
anything you are going to do for a state, you start with a budget,
budget gives you a broad base picture of what you plan to do in the
coming year. And in so doing you have to look at your various income
sources, how much are they, and where and where do you expect to get the
funds from, apart from your normal income sources. Would you want to go
to the financial institutions to borrow? If you want to take that
decision, you now have to weigh the other side; the expenditures. And
looking at the expenditure, it is a wide thing; you have to do your
sources and application of funding, where are you getting your sources
from.
For example, in budgeting for a state like Kogi, you have
to look at your taxation; what is the tax policy in the state like? Are
you having an efficient tax system, is there a whole lot of tax
avoidance or tax evasion? You have to look at any corporation or
organisation that is involved in evading tax, block it and send a bill
to the state House of Assembly to make a law to prohibit tax evasion.
Then look at the people that are trying to evade tax and look at where
to fill in the gap to encourage them not to avoid tax payment because
avoidance of taxes is allowed in law.
If you ask me, one agenda I will do for Kogi State is
employment creation. You use different parameters to achieve this goal.
One of the major areas of employment creation in Kogi State is asking
people to go back to the farm. And you organise it in a very beautiful
setting because it is not just about asking people to go back to farm,
but what do you want to achieve from it.
APC is the ruling party in Kogi State, so on which platform are you going to contest in 2019?
At the moment I am watching the political atmosphere
keenly. So what we have done is that we have formed ourselves into a
group called Aruwa Network for 2019. This network has state committees,
local government coordinators and wards committees. In the next few days
or weeks we will come together to deliberate which political party to
pitch our tent with. As I speak, 11 other political parties have
approached us, but we are watching them because we have solid political
structures on ground. So it is from our meeting that we will finally
decide which party to pitch tent with.
At the time the Supreme Court pronounced Bello as the
substantive governor of Kogi State; many people expressed reservations
and worries over the judgment. What was your own feeling then?
One thing about leadership is that God ordains it. No
matter your riches, no matter the amount of wealth that you command, if
God does not give you, you cannot have it. So it is like God had made it
that Bello must take power in Kogi State at that time, It was only
ordained by God that he would rule Kogi State.
Well, you are seeing it as God ordained, but other
stakeholders are seeing it as a dangerous precedent set in the state and
Nigeria in general. What will you say to this?
Anything that God does should not be questioned. As far as
I am concerned, no matter how anybody wants to look it, if God does not
allow it, there is no way it could have been possible. Going forward, I
believe that the entire people of Kogi State should look at what is
happening and make a good choice; they should forget about money
politics, they should keep their ears to the ground, and look for
quality leaders, individual who are time tested. We have them in Kogi
State. It is not all about money and money. Of course, the Igala people
have numerical advantage and they can do a lot with that, and that was
what they did during Prince Abubakar Audu. Though the incumbent governor
came to power through court process, the Kogi people have spoken, but
God spoke. And that was why the people went for Audu because they
believe he was credible. But it is human for the people to go to the
poll to vote, it is left for God to decide. So I believe that this time
around, it is like a bitter pill, the people will look out for who is
merited to be their governor.
How are you going to tackle the issue of non payment of salary in the state?
It is quite sad, but I believe that something can be done.
For me, my cardinal objective is to eradicate unemployment in Kogi
State. First I will try to talk with the workers. It is an aberration
for workers to have worked for 30 days and at the end, he cannot go back
home with something, what will he tell his family? I quite sympathise
with workers in Kogi State. But I hope and pray that government will do
something about it. But for me, I will approach the matter with all
sense of sincerity. As a banker I was paid 23rd and 24thof every month.
And that is what I am going to introduce in the state if given the
opportunity.
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