The Kwara State Governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed says the
State has witnessed significant development across all sectors in the last 14
years.
Governor Ahmed, who spoke through a statement by his Senior
Special Assistant on Media and Communications, Dr. Muyideen Akorede, said Kwara
State has recorded visible progress since 2003 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.
The statement noted that the Ahmed Administration has
completed most inherited projects and has equally implemented new projects
while several are ongoing across the State.
It 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.
The statement 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.
Stressing 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”.
Continuing, the statement noted 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.
The statement stated 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 statement 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.
It, 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”.
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