Kogi State Governor, Ahmed Usman Ododo has sworn in newly elected chairmen and vice chairmen of the 21 local government areas in Kogi State

with a charge to be dedicated in serving the people they represent.

At a ceremony held at the Banquet Hall in Government House Lokoja, the elected chairmen and vice chairmen from the 21 local government areas were seated as early as 8.am and joined by the Governor as the ceremony got underway.

Governor Ododo who presided over the swearing-in ceremony urged the new chairmen to sustain the tempo of development at the grassroots level by embarking on projects and programmes that will improve the lives of the people.

He charged the new local government chairmen to ensure security of lives and property and key into signature programmes of the administration in the areas of health, agriculture, social welfare and empowerment initiatives to transform the lives of the people in their respective local government areas.

The Governor who described the local government as the most important tier of government and the closest to the people also enjoined the new council chairmen to ensure that the people are carried along in all their activities and to promote inclusion of all stakeholders in decision making process.

He noted that the local government administration should not only be seen but must be felt by the people in line with the policy of his administration to bring governance closer to the people.

Governor Ododo also called on the new local government chairmen to be transparent and accountable in running the affairs of the local government, stressing that they must see their election as an opportunity to justify the autonomy of the local government administration by according priorities to matters that have direct positive impact on the lives of the people at the grassroots.

In response, the chairman of Yagba West local government area, Honourable Tosin Olokun, who spoke on behalf of the 21 local government chairmen assured of their commitment to complement the efforts of the state government by embarking on projects and programmes that will transform the lives of the people at the grassroots.

He also promised to unite the people irrespective of political differences in line with the agenda of the state government under Governor Ododo to unite the people of the state and focus more on development.

Ismaila Isah

Special Adviser on Media to the Governor

October 21, 2024

In the past decade and a half, the US has done incredibly well economically compared to other countries. It added millions of jobs and quickly put the COVID pandemic behind it. Do things need to be “made great” again?

A lot of time, effort and money goes into presidential and national elections in the United States and this year is no exception.

But combing through the data since 2009 shows that no matter who was in power, the economy seemed to be equally driven by global events, demographic developments and decisions made in the White House.

The period from 2009 to 2024 covers both of Barack Obama’s two terms in the White House, plus the single presidential terms of Donald Trump and Joe Biden, which is slowly coming to an end.

Looking back at Obama, Trump and Biden

There were two major disruptors during this time for the economy. The first was the financial crisis that started before Obama took office and the COVID-19 pandemic that struck during Trump’s time in office.

The financial crisis led some to fear the collapse of the entire banking system. Soon afterward GM and Chrysler declared bankrupt to reorganize themselves and the housing market — specifically mortgages — was spinning out of control.

The COVID-19 pandemic had a more immediate impact on the US and global economies. Lockdowns, shortages due to delicate supply chains and the closure of borders caused chaos, deaths and massive job losses.

Partly through large stimulus checks, the US managed to get out of the pandemic slump fast, picking up where the economy left off, creating a strong recovery.

American GDP versus other giants

One problem comparing the impact presidents and their policies make is the lag in time it takes for them to make a difference. Investing in infrastructure or industries like chipmaking is necessary, but the benefits are way in the future. Tightening the border to Mexico may keep out some migrants, but the impact of missing workers takes time to hit supermarket prices.

Another problem is assessing the impact of presidents separately from decisions made together with policymakers in Congress or independent institutions like the Federal Reserve.

Since 1990, American gross domestic product (GDP) per capita has grown each year except 2009 and that was another knock-on effect of the financial crisis. Last year, the country’s GDP per capita was over $81,000 (€74,700).

At the same time, when it comes to the annual percentage of growth per capita, China and India have had stronger growth. Despite this higher growth rate, America’s per capita GDP is still three times higher than China’s and eight times higher than that of India.

In 2023, America’s overall GDP was an astounding $27.36 trillion, making it by far the biggest economy in the world. China came a distant second at $17.66 trillion, followed by Germany and Japan.

A lot of jobs for a lot of people

In the first few months of Obama’s time in office, unemployment went up because of the financial crisis. From April 2009 to September 2011, it was at 9% or more.

After that, it slowly crept down until it reached its lowest level since the 1960s, before a short-lived spike during the COVID-19 pandemic put many out of a job. This year it has hovered around 4%.

On another front, American workers are more productive than others thanks to innovation, spending on research and development, and the willingness of workers to change jobs or move.

Pay inequality at the bottom

Another measure that has increased is pay inequality. America is the most unequal country in the G7 group. The top 1% of Americans hold a huge proportion of the country’s wealth.

In the US, to get into the top 1% of earners requires an annual household income of around $1 million a year before taxes. In the UK it only takes around $250,000.

Company bosses’ pay was over 250 times more than their average employee, wrote Barak Obama in The Economist in October 2016.

Moreover, in 1979 “the top 1% of American families received 7% of all after-tax income. By 2007, that share had more than doubled to 17%,” he wrote. More positively the proportion of people living in extreme poverty fell.

Migration is changing America

The exact number of illegal crossings into the US is hard to measure. Legal migration on the other hand can be counted. One measure of this is the number of green cards granted and from 2009 to 2022 over 14 million people were given such status.

The foreign-born population living in America, legally or otherwise, has grown considerably over the past 50 years in size and share of the population, according to a report issued by the US Census Bureau in April.

In 1970, there were 9.6 million foreign-born residents. By 2022, there were over 46 million, or nearly 14% of the total population.

Of the overall total, nearly one-third of the country’s foreign-born came to the US in 2010 or later and half live in just four states: California, Texas, Florida and New York. More than half have become citizens.

High inflation comes to America

Since January 2009, inflation has gone on a wildride based on the Consumer Price Index.

When Obama took office, inflation was at zero, went into negative territory and eventually climbed to a high of 9.1% in June 2022. This past September, it was down to 2.4%, the lowest since February 2021.

This relatively short period of higher inflation is having a long afterlife and has led to big cost of living increases for many Americans.

Consumer prices are up, and voters are very unhappy about it. It is one of the most important issues this year and could decide the election in swing states. It is also one of the hardest things for any president to control.

Edited by: Uwe Hessler

Author: Timothy Rooks, Rodrigo Menegat Schuinski

Dele Momodu, a prominent member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has expressed concerns that the All Progressives Congress (APC) might overheat the polity, specifically criticizing Abdullahi Ganduje, the APC national chairman.

This was coming after the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress stated that APC is ready to capture all the South- West States. He further stated that he won’t reveal the secrets for their significant actions.

Ekwutosblog reports that Dele Momodu the Ovation magazine boss who is dissatisfied with this utterances from the APC chairman took to his instagram page and wrote ; “I don’t blame APC for such reckless statements they make from time to time…..I wished the APC chairman told us the performance indicators he predicted his comments on….APC must regard NIGERIA as their conquered territory and NIGERIANS their acquired slaves, who will continue to be cajoled or coerced into accepting their abnormalities and standard practice… I hope they not overheat the polity with this level of selfishness and carelessness”.