The Deputy Governor of Kogi State, Yomi Awoniyi, is to head a committee that will look into the alleged marginalisation of the Okun Yoruba in Kogi State.
The Special Adviser to the State Governor on Media and Strategy, Jacob Edi, made the announcement while speaking to newsmen in Lokoja on Wednesday.
Edi said that the deputy governor would be joined by other eminent personalities from the public and private sectors to look into the complaint.
Edi said that the government’s action was in response to the allegation of marginalisation of the Okuns by successive administrations since the state was created in 1991.
He said that details of the terms of reference and other related matters would be made public in a few days time.
A high-powered delegation of Okun Yoruba people, led by a former Minister of Health, Prof. Eyitayo Lambo, had on Tuesday met with Governor Idris Wada, to lodge complaints about the lopsidedness in recruitment into the civil service and spread of projects.
Lambo said that his people could no longer accept a situation where 24,621 out of 35,209 civil servants in the state were from Kogi East while Kogi West and Kogi Central were left with 6,519 and 4,069 respectively.
They also protested their exclusion from holding certain positions and inadequate representation at the directorate cadre of the state’s civil service.
Lambo said that the ceding of the administrative and financial machinery of the state to a particular section portended great danger for peace and economic development of the state.
He called for immediate correction of the anomalies.
They also complained of decayed infrastructure and growing problem of insecurity, calling on the government to rise up to the challenge.
Wada said that his administration had been doing its best to ensure that all segments of the state were given equal treatment.
He promised to look into the issues raised by the group with a view to ensuring justice, promising that the dividends of democracy would be distributed to the three senatorial districts.