Lai Mohammed uninformed about governance in Kwara – KWSG

The Kwara State Government has said the Minister for Information and Culture; Alhaji Lai Mohammed’s recent pronouncements on governance in the state are at variance with the reality on ground.

In a response to statements by the Minister containing unsupported claims about governance in the state, the Kwara State government denied the image of stagnation painted by Alhaji Mohammed, maintaining that the state has recorded commendable strides.

Dr. Muideen Akorede, Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Media and Communications, yesterday, in Ilorin said: “Kwara State has made visible incremental progress in the years referred to by Alhaji Mohammed.

For example, since 2003, under the administration of former Governor Bukola Saraki and as upgraded by the current administration of Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, Kwara State has overcome its position as a civil service-driven state and is now a major frontier of growth in the north central region.

“The growth cuts across all sectors of economy and includes successful reforms in health insurance, agriculture, energy, revenue generation, infrastructure development and funding, which several states across the country continue to understudy and adopt.

These reforms have the added distinction of earning Kwara State national and international acclaim, in addition to vastly improving the people’s lives…”

While maintaining that progress has also been made in road infrastructure despite existing gaps, including federal roads like Ajase Ipo-Erin-Ile, the government said in addition to major achievements on state roads, it is currently intervening in Sango to Oke-Ose federal road, and started work on Kishi-Kaiama Federal Road, before the federal government took over funding.

The state government clarified that the only intervention received by Kwara State from the Federal Government in 2015 was deployed for salaries of state workers and infrastructure.

It said other federal interventions, which restructured state government loans and provided budget support due to shortfalls in federal allocation in 2016/2017 were utilised for recurrent expenditure.