From Joseph Amedu, Lokoja
The Kogi State Commissioner for Finance, Ashiwaju Idris Ashiru has said that the rebuilding of the State House of Assembly Complex that got burnt about a week ago will have to wait until the funding situation improves.
“Until we get buyers for some of the state assets which already been out up for sale like the Kogi hotel and other assets would have to be sold for us to have more liquid to undertake many of our pending projects which include Kogi State House of Assembly Complex” the commissioner said.
He was speaking on Wednesday in Lokoja at the citizens engagement on 2023 budget organised by the Kogi State Ministry of Finance, Budget and Economic Planning.
Our Correspondent recalls that the chamber of the state assembly went up in flames in the early hours of last Tuesday ripping through the roof of the complex in what the speaker, Mathew Kolawole described as suspected act of “sabotage”.
He however did not say from which quarter was the sabotage coming from adding that the security operatives are working to unravel the cause of the fire.
The commissioner called on citizens to help the state look for buyers so that the state can have more money to embark on the reconstruction of the building including the access road which is in a very bad shape.
Earlier, the commissioner had lamented the down turn in the economic prospect not only in the state and country but globally noting that “this is not the best of times for all nations.
“The last six years or thereabout has been very challenging nationally and globally. From recession in 2016 to covid-19 in 2020 to Russia-Ukraniane war in 2022 to a multiplicity of domestic issues,we can safely say that this not the best if times for all nations of the world.
He said that the last decades have been spent fighting insecurities which grew to a major crisis level in the last in the last few years.
“Cumulatively, insecurity has incrementally dwarfed our productive capacity, which in effect, further escalated poverty, agitations and general Instability in all facets of our national life”the commissioner noted.
He said that strategic conversation like one organised by the ministry was therefore important to find solutions to our teeming problems.