Date: 2016-10-06

The Kwara State government has said that the claim by the Organising for Kwara Political Action Group, that the infrastructure gap of the state is N450bn is untrue.

The Senior Special Assistant to the Kwara State Governor on Media and Communications, Dr. Muideen Akorede, in a statement on Wednesday said the fact that the government had conducted a study on infrastructural needs of the state and had identified a N225bn gap showed how visionary and serious the government of Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed is.

It added that the state government had outlined a plan to bridge the infrastructural deficit with the establishment of the Kwara Infrastructure Development Fund.

He said the state government would inject over N11.1bn to fund infrastructural projects, including the construction of Geri-Alimi Diamond Underpass.

Akorede also said the claim by the group that the state government had collected over N1trn in federal allocations between the last administration of Dr. Bukola Saraki and the current administration of Ahmed is also untrue. He also said it was completely untrue that workers had not been receiving regular salaries in the past three years.

Akorede argued that Kwara is one of the few states that have continued to pay salaries regularly, despite the current economic downturn that has affected the capacity of most state governments to pay workers' salaries.

According to him, the state had witnessed unprecedented development from 2003 till date.

Akorede also said Ahmed consolidated on the achievements of his predecessor by completing most inherited projects and implementing new ones across all sectors, which, he claimed, had contributed to the state's development.

According to him, the projects included the innovative City and Guilds of London-backed International Vocational Centre in Ajase-Ipo, KWASU's ultra-modern Engineering Complex and renovation and equipping of five general hospitals in Ilorin, Share, Omu-aran, Offa and Kaiama.

He said the present administration also executed different rural and urban road projects across the state, and people-oriented programmes such as youth empowerment scheme and micro-credit intervention scheme under which, he said, a cumulative N1.9bn had been disbursed to over 50,000 small business owners in the state.

In the housing sector, Akorede said Ahmed in March inaugurated the construction of 1,000 housing units at Budo-Osho area of Tanke, Ilorin, being part of efforts to reduce the state's housing deficit.

He added that the state government had commenced the implementation of critical grass-roots developmental projects in 192 wards across the state under its N850m World Bank supported community development programme.

With regard to the water reticulation project, Akorede explained that the project was broken into phases, noting that the first phase was executed by the Saraki administration, while the second phase was implemented by Ahmed during his first tenure.

Akorede said the final phase, which he said would ensure adequate water supply to most neighbourhoods across Ilorin metropolis, is currently being implemented. According to him, the Kwara State government had consistently demonstrated accountability and transparency to the people, "as evidenced by its monthly publication of federal allocations and Joint Accounts Allocation Committee figures."