•Assures on security

By Demola Akinyemi

The icing on the cake for the ongoing ground breaking efforts of Governor Abdulrazaq Abdulrahman to reposition Kwara state to the path of prosperity was the meeting with African Development Bank in Abuja penultimate Monday.

Meantime, following the earlier kidnap of four Turkish expatriates in the northern part of the state, a development that unsettled the security architecture of the state of harmony, the governor had set the right tone for effective security in the state which is necessary to engender development by vowing to deal decisively with culprits within the ambit of the law.

The governor said the recent abduction of four Turkish expatriates in the state was a “one off event which does not represent who we are as a people.”

AbdulRazaq, speaking in Abuja, after he handed over the expatriates to the Turkish embassy officials just hours after they were released unconditionally, said the state government may consider strengthening the state’s anti-kidnapping laws, among other measures, to protect lives and property and keep investors’ confidence.

According to a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Rafiu Ajakaiye, “The abduction is a horrible crime against the innocent victims who had their freedom curtailed. The government also view the development as an assault on the peace-loving people of Kwara State and it will not go unpunished.

“The state government may therefore review and strengthen all relevant laws to ensure that anyone convicted of kidnapping is swiftly and severely punished in accordance with the law, keeping in mind the need to ensure the security of life and property in the state.”

Earlier the statement said the government was elated at the freedom of the expatriates, thanking God for crowning the effort of the Governor and the security agencies.

“The government thanks the security agencies and members of the vigilante groups for their efforts, and the locals for volunteering very useful information that led to the unconditional release of the abductees. Finally, the government urges the people of the state to be vigilant and to report any suspicious movement or strange persons to the nearby security posts”, it stressed.

In his strategic effort to open up the state to foreign investors and put her on the path of prosperity, the governor had opened talks with the African Development Bank (AfDB) on various areas of partnership, including road construction, small and medium scale enterprises with focus on women empowerment, energy, and agro-processing.

The meeting was attended by AfDB Country Director Ebrimal Faal and other top officials of the agency. At the meeting, the governor spelt out the priorities of his new administration and sought the buy-in of the development body, according to a statement by AbdulRazaq’s spokesman, Rafiu Ajakaye.

The statement said the governor identified the priority areas to include education, healthcare, infrastructure, agriculture, women and youth empowerment, and entrepreneurship and the steps he had taken on them like recent multimillion naira counterpart funds he released to access various development funds.

It quoted AbdulRazaq as saying that the administration plans to develop agriculture and promote agroprocessing with special focus on commodities like sugarcane, rice and cashew, among others.

The Governor mentioned some investments in these areas to include the $350m sugar refinery being constructed by the BUA Group and the 16,000 hectares of sugarcane plantation owned by the Dangote Group, according to the statement.

“Consequently, Kwara is eyeing a partnership with the AfDB for the construction of Kosubosu-Lafiagi road. There will also be further talks on how Kwara can benefit from AfDB’s initiatives like the $50m facility to support SMEs and women-owned businesses, $200m project for National Electrification and transmission lines; and AfDB agro-industrial development through its Special Agro -Industrial Processing Zone being pursued with some Chinese investors, among others,” the statement said.

All these are interesting times in Kwara state as the governor temporarily turned the School of Special Needs along Zango in Ilorin to its mini office and made the once sleepy school a cynosure of all eyes by asking heads of ministries and parastatals and other top officials in the state to bring their budgets to him for defence there.

The governor had earlier visited the school a few weeks back to listen to the teachers and inspect the facilities there, apologising to the children and promising to quickly attend to their needs.

This is clearly a fresh start for Kwara state because no governor since the return of Nigeria to democracy in 1999 has done anything close in unearthing the multifarious problems in the state in a bid to solve them.

In what was a first in the state’s history, as Governor AbdulRazaq said, he purposely scheduled the meeting for the school to let the top bureaucrats and government functionaries appreciate the need to allocate resources in manners that directly benefit the downtrodden in the society.

The meeting was attended by the Head of Service Mrs Susan Modupe Oluwole; Chairman of Kwara State Internal Revenue Service (KW-IRS), Directors in the state, heads of parastatals and permanent secretaries and other top functionaries.

The governor while addressing them said,”Work has started, in line with our ‘Iseya’ mantra. I’m sorry to drag you here; it is symbolic. This is necessary for you to understand that there are other people who have needs that we should meet. I want the budget to be more inclusive going forward,”

AbdulRazaq also told the bureaucrats that bringing them to the school was to ensure that budgets were made to reflect the condition of the people, and not a show of executive powers.

He added,”I’ve been here before and I know they have needs. The pupils here don’t have access to very basic needs. They don’t have light, they can’t read. This is a trend across the state. Our schools are in bad state. This is why we emphasise the need to get basic things running first.

“The budget should be realistic. We should bring things back to standard. So, bringing you here is to encourage you to feel the situation here. It is not impunity, it is for us to understand the terrible state of things, to make you appreciate the situation here. I want you to appreciate the environment in which you work. We want to put basic things in place first before we move into big budget (projects). We will eventually embark on those big things but we want to put basic things in place first.”

Governor Abdulrazaq also urged the top civil servants and wealthy members of the society to help the needy such as the special needs children and other disadvantaged members of the society.

The meeting was the second time the governor would pull top civil servants to the hinterland to have a feel of the condition of the people.

It will be recalled that in June, the governor also summoned permanent secretaries and other officials to Patigi, in Kwara North, following his visit to some schools and hospitals whose conditions he said were unacceptable to him.

Vanguard