If elected governor, Melaye promises to take Kogi into a new age.

The PDP candidate pledged to provide local governments financial independence while accusing the state administration of diverting money intended for palliative care to the needy.

Senator Dino Melaye, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is running for governor of Kogi on November 11 and has declared that if elected, the state will enter a new era.

Melaye made the commitment on Friday in Abuja, when he received the Policy Drafting Committee report for the Kogi Governorship election.

He promised to restructure the state civil service, upgrade the state’s infrastructure, and establish an Independent Kogi Economic Development Commission if elected state governor.

In addition, the former national congressman pledged to pay workers their full salaries, establish four new districts, and raise internal revenue without raising taxes on the poor.

“In Kogi State, the civil service will be restructured, and we’ll start paying salaries on the 25th of each month. The whole wage will also be paid.

There is no middle class in Kogi now. Only the wealthy and the impoverished exist. Melaye bemoaned that while those in power were getting richer, the masses were going poorer.

The PDP candidate pledged to provide local governments financial independence while accusing the state administration of diverting money intended for palliative care to the needy.

“In Kogi State, local governments were building rural roads ten years ago. No local government in Kogi is capable of digging a well right now.

“Local government doesn’t have any vehicles, wages aren’t paid, and some secretariats are locked up. But we are proclaiming the dawn of a new day,” Melaye declared.

Invoking Kogi’s “too blessed to be poor” status, he pledged to harness and commercialise the region’s mineral resources.

“I brought individuals from outside of Nigeria who conducted a scientific investigation and handed me the Kogi region’s mineral resources. Only one of our 52 mineral resources, limestone, has been used.

“We have uranium; the rest are right there. We have Nigeria’s greatest uranium resource, according to Melaye.

When elected, he stated, he would utilise the federal allotment each month to pay for civil wages, pensions, gratuities, promotions, training, and retraining, while using internal money for development projects.

He declared, “We’re going to increase revenue without taxing the poor.”

Melaye praised the drafting group for their excellent work.

“Except for the PDP, no other party is discussing the policy document. I’ve read this material and looked at it, and it’s not only well-written; it also serves as a solution manual and prayer answer, he remarked.

The policy document’s more than 100 pages, according to the committee’s chairman, Prof. Sam Amadi, contain proposals that, if followed, would change Kogi.

According to him, the strategy is in line with Melaye’s vision for the state and addresses a number of industries, including education, agriculture, local government administration, technology, communications, tourism, and others.

“The committee proposed that there be a Kogi Economic Development Commission that is Independent.

“We are insisting that the individuals who will make up that committee when Melaye is elected governor should be honest and have power to influence the governor’s actions.

“The commission should be independent; it should have people with pedigree, integrity, so that when he is going wrong, they will bring him back,” added Amadi.