Kogi Citizens have been called upon to come under one platform to advocate for transformative governance in Kogi State and Nigeria in general.
The Civil Society Co-Convener, Campaign for Transformative Governance, CFTG, Tijani Abdulkareem made the call on Saturday at a state multi-stakeholder strategic dialogue/town hall meeting with the theme, deepening state engagement and mobilizing stakeholders for transformative governance held in Lokoja.
Addulkareem, who is also the Executive Director, Socio-Economic Research and Development Centre (SERDEC) said the advocacy will go a long way in making the government accountable for driving development in the country.
He said “The Kogi State Charter of Partnerships, Mobilisation and Engagement, CAPME sets out principles for improving governance in the state through participatory governance and putting the people and business at the centre of policy formulation, implementation and service delivery.
“This CAPME confirms CFTG’s commitment to effectively engage government and citizens in driving transformative governance. It establishes the action, results and impact of working with key stakeholders, mobilizing citizens to hold the government accountable for transformative governance and inclusive development.
“Kogi State over the years has had its own share of bad governance in Nigeria, riddled with a high rate of unemployment, unequal and unjust distribution of income and wealth, high level of insecurity, abject poverty, low level of social and political consciousness, increased illiteracy rate, poor health services, pitiable housing conditions, lack of amenities and government services, among others.
” Data from the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS 2022, shows that the unemployment rate stands at 39% with the National Multidimensional Poverty Index, MPI putting the state poverty rate at 61%, indicating that more than half of the population is now living in multidimensional poverty.
“The Under 5 mortality rate in Kogi State stands at 148, higher than the national rate of 132, making it the 9th state with the highest under-5 mortality rate in the country.
“The CAPME Intervention is to draw attention to demand social justice for the people through holding government accountable to roll back this blurring data and indicators surrounding inadequate social protection policies, unaccountable public finance management and Socio-economic and environmental issues by taking necessary action through inclusive, participatory and transformative governance toward ensuring a sustainable development.
Earlier in his remarks, the Kogi State Chairman of the Trade Union Congress, TUC, Ahmed Tijani stressed the need for collaboration to ensure good governance in Kogi State.
“TUC is committed to bringing Government, Civil Society and the People together to ensure true transformative governance in our state. Going by the hardship happening in the country today, it is global. We are looking at how the government could come up with measures to ameliorate the suffering of the masses.
“There is so much hardship in the country and the workers are mostly directly affected. As of today, workers cannot feed three square meals a day. So we are looking forward to seeing that the government implements the N70,000 new minimum wage approved by the Federal Government so that it will reduce the sufferings of the masses” he stated.