Gbenga Odogun, Lokoja
The Kogi State Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, has called on the United States of America to view Kogi State as a trade partner and an investment basket rather than an aid-seeking state.
The governor said this in Lokoja on Sunday when he received in audience, the United States’ Ambassador to Nigeria, Stuart Syminton, who paid him a courtesy visit in the Kogi State Government House.
The Ambassador is the first diplomat of a world power to visit Kogi State officially.
Bello, while responding to the Ambassador’s promise to collaborate with the state and developing countries for development, said while the state would not refuse aids, it should not be seen as a lazy state always going cap in hand begging for foreign aids.
The governor added that the state “is well positioned to become an important trading partner with the United States rather than seeking aid all the time.”
Bello thanked the United States Ambassador for his visit and assured him that his administration would enthrone development in the state.
He thanked the United States for partnering the state through the United States Agency for International Development.
The governor highlighted the thematic areas of his New Direction Blueprint and urged the US to partner the state for development and poverty eradication.
Bello assured the US that “Kogi is peaceful and conducive for investment.”
Earlier, Syminton had said America would help the Bello regime to achieve its goals as contained in the New Direction Blueprint of the administration.
Syminton expressed the resolve of his country to strengthen development and education in Africa to prepare professionals for the next stage of African development.
Also speaking, the state Deputy Governor, Simon Achuba, urged the United States Government to speed up the process of repatriating stolen funds stashed in American banks.
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