The grey hairs of Nyako, it may soon show, bear no relation to the wisdom of Solomon. For a man revered for old age that stands for wisdom, a lot of people are disappointed that as he was incompetent and was removed as governor of Niger State by General Olusegun Obasanjo. It appears Nyako has never matured given a first, second and third time as governor of Niger State, and two time governor of Adamawa State, he has failed to deliver.
Nyako as governor of Adamawa State is currently being investigated for the biggest fraud of a contract given to a company not known by any name but SENECO, a company that has connection to one of the governor’s wives and has never delivered on any contractual agreement.
Seneco was paid over a period of three years but did nothing to justify the money paid. Seneco converted a burrow pit and named it a dam at a cost of over Four Hundred Million Naira (N400, 000, 000.00). To the common onlooker, it would not have cost more than three million naira (N3, 000, 000.00) to stone pitch the place. This he did with impunity. The same Seneco attempted building two culverts along Shelleng Road at a cost of over Two Billion Naira that remained uncompleted six years after and counting.
Visibly, Nyako has no intention of beginning or completing any project. The state assembly on which the vast majority of Adamawa citizens have relied, showed sympathy to the governor and did nothing but advised the governor continuously, even as he in a foolhardy manner, locked up the State Assembly through his proxies for about two months. This brought into the fore entrenched thuggery by government, led by a youth leader and his bunch of hooligans that openly smoked and used illicit drugs brazenly in front of the House of Assembly and in public view.
As chief security officer of the state, Nyako turned his face away from the facts on ground making it appear that he is a culpable partner in the breakdown of law and order that he is supposed to protect.
Nyako’s government has come to be identified as a government of family and friends. Moreso, because it is either his sons or daughters and filial of those married to members of his family and relations close to him, that benefit from the government.
He has lost touch with reality and rather has cleavage to only those that are close to members of his family. It is therefore not surprising that appointments favour only those that are close to his family members. A close check would reveal that the D1 Batch of teachers employed by the state government are largely made up of people that have no relations with people in Governor Nyako’s government.
For over twenty months, they were paid half a month’s salary while nineteen and half month’s salaries have been diverted to other purposes. Visibly, a corrupt government is working against a vast majority of people that labour and are denied their dues. This is not the only example of Nyako’s unfriendly attitude toward those that labour, but on the contrary he maintains a crew of unproductive people in the name of Special Assistants (SA) that amount to half the civil service.
Over thirty thousand people go by the name of Special Assistants to the governor who do nothing but are paid for political reasons.
The Special Programme and Project Unit (SPPU), created to monitor the state’s development programme, has been converted to a family affair overriding ministries and other government parastatals. To a certain degree, it usurped the powers of ministries and parastatals and awards contracts.
To a large extent, it was and still is an organization run by family, friends and in-laws. The ‘choicest’ ministries and parastatals also go to them. Even Federal Government Assisted Millenium Development Goals Programmes such as SURE-P, Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) etc. have selective beneficiaries based on closeness of one to the governor.
More awful is the falling standard of education. During the previous government, under Boni Haruna, feeding was restored to the schools and WAEC and other exams fees were paid for students to ease the burden on parents. Since inception, the regime under Nyako has denied this basic right for children to attain their optimum in their pursuit of higher academic goals. Of the many atrocities of Nyako can be counted in his inability to address the problem of workers. He has consistently failed to address the issue of workers, first by withholding two months of their salaries. Secondly, by cutting their salaries and allowances without due cause. These two acts, without recourse to others, have made him one of the most unpopular governor to have ruled the state.
His government is selective and highly unpopular given the fact that when the Jimeta Ultra-Modern Market, built by Boni Haruna, had shops allocated to people that had no stake as at the time of the construction. To a large extent, it was handed over to people that were not traders but political associates, who in turn rented out the same to those that could afford them. The same goes for the Kofare Housing Estate Co-funded by the Federal Government and made to appear as a Nyako project with deductions made from civil servants that benefit less than ten percent of the National Housing Insurance Scheme.
The vast majority of workers cannot say with exactitude where their money goes, while governor Nyako allocates houses to people that have no knowledge of where the money comes from.
Lagdo electric power that got heavy publicity by the Nyako led regime is by all definition, a project created by Nyako that does not exist, even the Cameroonian authorities do not know of the existence of such bilateral agreement between Nigeria and Cameroon. It is a conduit pipe that has been used to siphon state funds.
It is also a fact that Nyako compensated flood ravaged Numan, Demsa, Lamurde, Yola North, Yola South, Shelleng, Fufore, Guyuk and many communities within the state with the sum of about Two Hundred and Fifty Naira (N250) per house hold. Can this be called compensation enough for somebody whose house has been demolished, livestock perished and farm land totally destroyed?
For all these, Five Hundred Million Naira (N500, 000, 000.00) was given by the Federal Government to ameliorate the suffering of the affected communities.
Where did Nyako put these resources?
These are the allegations that Governor Murtala Nyako is facing by a House of Assembly that has refused to go with him to the All Progressives Congress where he is leading an opposition to the party that brought him to power.
In the face of these glaring alleged atrocities, it is a wonder; the Adamawa State House of Assembly waited this long to suggest that they are culpable and had benefited from the largesse.
Talokaini John Miji is a teacher with Karewa Government Day Secondary School, Jimeta-Yola and can be reached on
Tel: 08125198297
Email:[email protected]
[email protected]