For mallam Salihu Godknowsall, (not real names) life and living in Kogi, the Confluence state is like the Hobbesian state of nature characterized by constant fear, competition, and insecurity as, life in some towns and villages is famously “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”
Consequently, concerned citizens and analysts summarise the situation in the state as triple whammy, inflation, unpaid gratuities and no minimum wage with the attendant impoverishment.
From The Street (FTS) checks, based on the latest report of the nation’s Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the state tops food price‑rise chart, while, at the home front, gratuity paupers are busy couning years and not naira, as the residents wait for the crumbs.
Ironically, from the account of the governor, Usman Ododo and most of his counterparts, like, Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa, the present federal administration of Bola Tinubu has been good and generous to states through the disbursement of enhanced monthly allocations ocassioned by the subsidy removal since 2023.
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Senate President Godswill Akpabio, last year amplified it when he stated that the governors are experiencing the best of times in the country since the inception of Tinubu administration, adding, “This is the best time to be a state governor in Nigeria due to a roughly fourfold increase in federal allocations following the removal of fuel subsidy.”
Akpabio also mentioned early 2026 that governors are “receiving 1.9 trillion, 2.7 trillion naira under Tinubu, enabling them to pay salaries without borrowing.”
But, in what most kogites regard as “paradox of plenty”, there is poverty amid riches as the state is bedevilled by existential threats to lives of serving and retired civil servants, suffering from ‘irony of want’.
The alleged ‘anyhowness’ in the conduct of affairs at the national level is believed to be deeply rooted in the state as monthly salaries of some civil servnts, though at the old rate, are at varance with their grades and levels.
For a state that has been leading with high inflation figures, as well as heightened insecirity typified by killings, abductions that have prevented farmers from accessing their farmlands, analysts say, the sufferings can only be imagined than described.
Ododo, had in July 2025, while receiving in audience the Association of Retired Heads of Service and Permanent Secretaries of Nigeria, Kogi State Chapter, whose officials were on a courtesy visit to the governor to complain about neglect, with a six point demand, including the settlement of outstanding gratuity, payment of severance allowance, issue of harmonization, among others, pledged his administration’s commitment to supporting both serving and retired civil servants in the state.
According to Governor Ododo, “I am one of the luckiest persons on earth. I want to thank all of you for your service to our state and the nation as a whole. I want to beg all of us as our fathers and mothers, please don’t turn your back on us. Don’t turn yourself against the system that you went through for the period of 35 years.”
The Governor acknowledged the challenges faced by the retired civil servants, including the payment of gratuity and severance allowances. He assured the association that his administration would work towards addressing these issues.
Governor Ododo further noted, “This is the Government of Civil servants, I am a civil servant, and the Deputy Governor is a civil servant. We will serve you.”
The Governor acknowledged president Tinubu’s support, noting, “Today Mr. President is helping us to receive improved revenue that is enabling us to execute good governance.”
News From The Street has it that the acknowledged windfall is not being felt by most residents as both the serving and retired civil servants, including judges are being owed pension and gratuity arrears.
Most of the people that spoke with metrobusinessnews.com, (MBN) acknowledged the fact that most of the issues confronting Ododo’s administration emanated from the ill handling of the workers verification and bad governance by the immediate past Yahaya Bello administration.
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It turned out to be albatross of workers as many of them were prematurely sent packing from service and those that were left could not access salaries as at when due .
Rather than Bello’s government accepting her failures, the government became vindictive and arrogant as kept telling the world that he was up to date with salaries, while the workers kept insisting that they were being owed for upward of seven to thirty months then.
Alao, the worsening situation of infrastructural development across the spectrum of the state , ranging from the decay in Health Sector, Agriculture, Education are still persisting, even as they are allegations of overbearing influence of former governor over Ododo, particularly in the areas of decision making and general governance of the state.
On the issue of new minimum wage implementation, the civil servants have continued to wonder why the government’s neither implementing it nor paying the correct old scale to some civil servants.
As at last month, civil servants and retirees in the State continued to express grave concern regarding the non-payment of long-standing pension arrears and gratuities, despite promises of reform from the administration of Governor Ododo.
Key Concerns, Updates:
Retirees, including judges, have decried the “prolonged neglect” and refusal of the state government to pay their benefits, with many of them being out of service for five years.
In January 2026, the Kogi Good Governance Advancement Initiative (KGGAI) described the unpaid gratuities as a “monster” that has consumed lives and pushed retirees into poverty and ill-health, urging Governor Ododo to act.
According to one of the judges, “I retired about three years ago and since then, I have not received a dime of my gratuity. I can hardly feed with the meagre monthly pension, which is not sustainable.”
Narrating his ideal, a retired principal said ” I was among those retired in 2019, although, I was due for retirement in 2022. My total gratuity is about N7,600,000, out of which I was paid N300,000 at three instalments with 20 percent taken from the source. ”
MBN gathered that the few that collected part of their gratuity collected N100,000 at each instalment, less 20 percent taken by the staff at the office as ‘gratification’.
In 2025, the state introduced a technology-driven system to process 200 retirees daily and approved N50 million monthly for gratuities.
Despite these interventions, many pensioners feel that the efforts are insufficient to clear the massive backlog inherited from previous administrations.
More worrisome is the fact that amid these challenges, cost of living continues to rise, with many drifting below poverty level.
For instance, in the just released inflation figures by the National Bureau of Statistics, figures from the states for February reading showed disparities in food inflation figures as data from the CPI report showed that on a year-on- year basis, Kogi recorded the highest food inflation rate at 26.91%, followed by Adamawa at 23.12% and Benue at 21.89%.
Also, in June 2025 CPI puts Kogi at 22.8 % headline, above national 22.3 % food inflation driving transport and staple cost.
