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Liberia’s Vice-President Jewel Taylor has lauded Gov. Yahaya Bello of Kogi on his leadership style, describing him as the kind of leader Africa needs to achieve peace, progress and development.
Taylor made the statement on Sunday in Abuja at a dinner hosted by Bello in her honour with women and youths in attendance.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Taylor is on a visit to Nigeria to the APC Women Congress, holding from Jan. 16 to Jan. 17 in Abuja.
Taylor said that Bello had set the bar in African leadership, urging other leaders of the continent and the sub-region to emulate the governor.
The vice-president noted that Kogi had recorded significant progress in governance, peace and security because of Bello’s leadership style of women and youth inclusion.
Taylor said that Bello in his six years of governance had shown political will and maturity which had made him outstanding and interested in the welfare of the people, making them to clamour for him.
“Many people talk about their visions in politics and most times it will not come to pass but you are a new type of leader, a visionary leader that is doing great things and has set a bar for the Africa we want to see.
“You are an example of a God-fearing leader that is interested in making a great difference in Africa, so we salute you.
“It takes political will and maturity and he has shown that at an early age. I salute you this evening and thank you for going beyond the ordinary.
“That means you are an extraordinary leader interested in the good of the people.
“That is why you have peace and security in Kogi State and that is why you have all the innovations because everybody is included and Africa needs a leader like you.
“We hope you are an example to other leaders, not just in Nigeria but across Africa so that we get the peace that we desire.
“Thank you for showing a new sign that these are new days in Africa. There is a new Africa rising.”
Taylor said that she was attending the APC National Women Congress to share her experiences in politics and to encourage women inclusion and participation in politics.
She added that she had also brought Liberian women interested in politics along with her, to come and meet women in Nigeria to learn from and collaborate with them.
Speaking earlier, Bello welcomed Taylor to Nigeria, thanking her for honouring the dinner and sharing her experience in politics with Nigerian women in a bid to encouraging them.
Bello reiterated that Kogi had been able to record successes because he realised the importance of women and how phenomenal they were in maximising potentials.
He said that Kogi had gone beyond the stage of advocating for women inclusion to implementing it, an action he intended to implement at the national level.
“In Kogi State, we desire to have excellence, we desire to serve our people to the best of our abilities. We desire to have peace and security, we desire to have fairness, equity and justice.
“We desire to balance everything we do in Kogi State. We desire not to just include women but to have women as partners in progress.
“We desire to have effective management of human and material resources for the maximum benefit of our people. As such, we had a choice to make, the choice of getting trusted hands or not.
The governor said: “in Kogi State, we chose to have trusted hands and indeed, if you are in search of trusted loyal, committed hands, go the way of women.
“That is why today, starting from my SSG, to head of service, to my ADC, to all the numerous wonderful women, we decided to go for them.
“I want to assure you that they are representing women the way it should be and we are getting the desired results in Kogi State.
According to him, we are having peace and security. We are having all-inclusiveness, we are having the desired result we want in Kogi State today by the special grace of God.
“This is what we want to transfer to the national level and across Africa.
“That is why I said a success story is meeting a success story. Your excellency, you are successful and yon will continue to succeed,” Bello said. (NAN)
