By Terver Atsar
One of the major challenges confronting Benue State is the deteriorating standard of living of its urban and rural populace. This challenge can be addressed through the provision of necessities of life such as food, safe water, security, education, access to health care service, employment opportunities, among others. To achieve this, there must be quality leadership to initiate reforms and ensure their thorough implementation. It is for this reason that I desire to Governor Benue State and fix its inherent inadequacies.
Recently, I was at Kwande Local Government Area and met specifically with the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) leadership to declare my desire to aspire for the office of Governor in the forthcoming gubernatorial election. However, instead of the traditional Adikpo venue, I decided to meet with the stakeholders in Ikyogen in LIEV-1 Council Ward.
As expected, many had asked about the rationale behind the choice of Ikyogen? I attempt to answer that question in this piece.
My fascination with Ikyogen started way back when I was a little village boy in the early 80s. The illustrious Aper Aku of blessed memory had established a Cattle Ranch in the area. I heard all the stories about the beauty and splendour of the hilly countryside through my father’s transistor radio.
When I came of age, particularly at a time of my wedding – three decades later, I would take my newlywed wife to another ranch in a nearby – equally hilly countryside of Obudu on honeymoon. Ikyogen had by then become a mismanaged and abandoned facility, a mere relic of the “good-old days.”
The Obudu Ranch on the other hand was also waning in glory due to poor management. However, it still had basic tourist potentials. I was green with envy and wondered why ours in Benue was different. From that moment, I pledged to myself that if given the opportunity to govern Benue, I will turn Ikyogen into an enviable tourist and agricultural hub for livestock production and tourism. For me at the moment, it was a mere wish. I had no idea that 12 years later, I will seek for an opportunity to realise the wish.
Therefore, when I thought of a suitable place to declare my intention in Kwande, Ikyogen came naturally to mind. It is a significant location to me in many ways.
First, Ikyogen remains a symbol of the vision and dream that our first civilian Governor had to transform the then new State of Benue from a poor and underdeveloped land to an agricultural and tourism hub.
Ikyogen reminds us of the many legacies of a visionary man who meant well for our people, but whose mandate and life were eventually cut short by the forces of evil that are still hunting the state today. Going to Ikyogen was thus a befitting tribute to this legacy.
Ikyogen reminds us of what good governance can do to the countryside – to create better living conditions for our rural folks through employment opportunities that can raise their standard of living.
Thus, my choice of Ikyogen underscores my admiration, belief, and resolve for rural development to not only stem rural-urban migration but to create decent environment and means of livelihood for our people.
Perhaps, even more significant is the fact that ranching which is the panacea to the persistent herdsmen incursions in the state was conceived when the problem had not even started. Aku was 40 years ahead of his time. Here was a man who found the solution to the problem even before it occurred. That’s the definition of vision. Therefore, I had no doubt that there is no better place to refocus our minds on for ranching than Ikyogen.
Going to Ikyogen was for me an endorsement of ranching and the anti-open grazing law of the state.
There is no better place to talk about ranching than in Ikyogen. It buttresses my commitment to revive the ranch and fulfil the dream of my elder brother.
Going to Ikyogen was also intended to send a clear message to neglected communities that hope is on the way. I am a harbinger of hope for the downtrodden and forgotten. Having grown up in one of the most remote and neglected communities in the state, I am in a good position to appreciate the pain of other communities that share similar fate.
I am coming into governance with the passion for robust growth and investments in critical infrastructure to create wealth for the collective prosperity of our people, wherever they are, and to transform our agrarian communities to robust economic nerve centres that do not only produce raw materials but value added commodities that is capable of ensuring that our people get the opportunity to maximize their potentials.
Ikyogen represents vision and hope for revival of dead dreams. I will revive the dream and appease the spirit of Aku.
The expanse vegetation, the fresh air and the rural setting are all basic ingredients for recreation. This will be harnessed for the benefit of our people.
Even though the contours of our development may not be straight; the lines of our infrastructural development may be zig zag; the tone and tenor of our diversity may be divergent; but the passion and zeal to develop Benue State to a tourist destination and agricultural hub is sacrosanct.
So Ikyogen to me, assumes the status of an ideology. It represents vision and hope. It encapsulates my agenda for a better Benue.
That is why I went to Ikyogen.
Atsar is a PDP guber aspirant in Benue State.