Kwara State Has Recorded Visible Progress Since 2003-Gov Ahmed
Oyewale Oyelola, Ilorin
The Kwara State Governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed on Friday said Kwara State has recorded visible progress since 2003 .
Governor Ahmed disclosed this while presenting his scorecards through a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Communications, Dr. Muyideen Akorede in Ilorin, the state capital.
The governor said the State has witnessed significant development across all sectors in the last 14 years.
According to him, “Kwara State has recorded visible progress since as his administration and that of former Governor Bukola Saraki have elevated the State and its people despite spending the bulk of federal allocations on salaries and pensions.”
Ahmed noted that his administration has completed most inherited projects and has equally implemented new projects while several are ongoing across the State.
He highlighted some of the projects implemented by the present administration to include renovation and equipping of five general hospitals into state-of-the-art facilities, International Vocational, Technical and Entrepreneurship College (IVTEC) Ajase Ipo, KWASU’s ultra-modern Engineering Complex, urban and rural electrification and water projects as well as youth empowerment and Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) development under which more than 60,000 youths and entrepreneurs have benefited.
Kwara state governor added that the state government has rehabilitated 17 waterworks across the State, expanded its Community Health Insurance scheme and carried out reforms such as the establishment of the Kwara State Internal Revenue Service (KWIRS) and Kwara Infrastructural Development Fund (IF-K) which have ensured sustained infrastructure development and prompt payment of salaries and pensions to State workers and pensioners.
According to the statement, these reforms have also enabled the state government implement several road projects across the State despite the limited resources at its disposal.
He noted that development is an ongoing process and that governance is a continuum, the statement listed the ongoing projects to include Geri Alimi Diamond Underpass, the new KWASU Campuses at Ekiti and Ilesha Baruba, its Postgraduate School in Ilorin, dualisation of Kulende-UITH road and the solar-powered streetlights project, “Light Up Kwara”.
Ahmed emphazised that the previous administration of Dr. Saraki, the current Senate President, implemented several infrastructural projects such as the Kwara State University, Malete, Harmony Advanced Diagnostic Centre, International Aviation College, Ilorin, Shonga farms, numerous urban and rural roads and electrification projects, remodelling of the Ilorin Township Stadium as well as pioneered the innovative Community Health Insurance Scheme.
Adding that the projects have expanded access to higher education, boosted healthcare for Kwarans, established the State as an aviation hub, created thousands of local jobs and significantly developed the State.
Providing further explanation, the governor noted that any attempt to assess the utilization of monetary inflows into Kwara since 2003 must recognise the fact that as a civil-service dominated State, Kwara utilizes up to 70% of allocation for payment of salaries and overheads.
He however maintained that despite this, the State government has implemented several developmental projects across all sectors, stressing that ‘’Kwara of today does not bear any semblance with Kwara of 2003 development-wise”.