Date: 2017-01-15

The Presidential Committee on Revenue Mobilisation for Natural Resources and Ecological Fund has asked the Kwara State Government to relocate residents of Kilanko area of Ilorin South Local Government Area of the state to avert looming disaster coming with next rainy season.

Chairman of the committee, Dr. Rafiq Ogunbambi, gave the advise when he led his team to Governor AbdulFatah Ahmed at the state Government House, Ilorin, the state capital.

He expressed concern over what his team saw at Kilanko, an urban settlement located within Offa Garage area of the state capital, saying that the next rainy season would be disastrous for the people of the area.

The Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, had visited the area when he was the Chairman of Senate Committee on Ecology in the last administration and promised government intervention on the plight of the residents. He noted that the magnitude of the erosion in the area was beyond what the state could handle. Ogunbambi said the prompt relocation of the residents should be done as the state awaits Federal Government's decision on the request for assistance.

His words: "We had the opportunity of visiting some of the areas that pose immense challenge to your administration.

We have seen the devastation of erosion in some of these areas. "We are particularly moved by what we saw at Kilanko area of Ilorin South and to conclude without any reservation, the next rainy season may take away all the buildings in that area.

As we go back to process your request, what you can do in the interim is to move those people away." Earlier Ahmed had called on the presidential committee to impress it on the Federal Government the need to support Kwara to expand it's revenue base through its natural resources.