The remarks of Special Adviser to the President on Ethics and Values, Dr. (Mrs.) Sarah Jibril about development in Kwara State have been described as unscientific and unfounded.

Chairman, Patigi Local Government Area (where the presidential aide hails from), Hon. Daudu Taoheed Lata, made the rebuttal yesterday.

The council boss said: "I don't know the definition of development Madam Sarah Jubril is talking about. I don't know the parameter she had used to come up with the conclusion that Kwara is in a state of underdevelopment. If she had used any parameter at all, it was a wrong one."

Lata said any scientific parameter of development index would give the state a good rating, adding that "Kwara, today, is not as it was when Mrs. Jibril was member of the state executive council."

"Many roads are being constructed. In fact, infrastructures are growing to support development. In education, which is the bedrock of development, we have additional tertiary institutions such as Kwara State University, a world class institution, a College of Nursing about to take-off and reform programme to put our schools on sound footing," he stressed.

"Many large and small-scale industries have sprung up in the last few years, which generated employment for our people especially the youths, Kwara is now on world map of commercial agriculture," he added.

He therefore advised the president's aide to look homeward and join others to see how development can further be facilitated collectively.

"She can contribute her quota towards development rather than standing aloof or joining Abuja-based critics," he added.
It would be recalled that a national daily reported on Monday that the president's aide addressed journalists in Abuja after a meeting by a pressure group called Kwara Leadership Caucus during which she made uncomplimentary remarks about the state.