Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq yesterday briefed President Muhammadu Buhari about some developmental challenges he inherited in the north central state and the steps he has taken to reposition them.
“The governor held a one-on-one meeting with the president yesterday at the Villa in Abuja to keep him abreast of the situation he met on the ground especially as regards infrastructural deficits in the area of water, roads, education, health, and agriculture,”.
Chief Press Secretary to the governor,, Rafiu Ajakaye, in a statement said: ‘‘ His Excellency also told Mr. President how he has been tackling these challenges such as gradually restoring potable water in the state capital and other parts of the state, the payment of various counterpart funds in the health sector.
‘‘The governor also told the president how he has returned UNICEF back to the state after many years, of blacklisting the state by UBEC as well as the payment of the N450m debt to restore the relationship, among many other steps he has taken.”
The statement said AbdulRazaq also told Buhari about how he quickly ended the strike across the colleges of education when he assumed office and how he had since paid over N700m to settle their salary arrears.
He also narrated to the president that his administration had restored constant and timely payment of salary of workers, subventions and running costs across various ministries.
The president also learnt how Kwara is already keying into various developmental projects of the Federal Government, including passing the state’s Social Investment Programme law that provides for school feeding, soft loans for marketers and conditional cash transfer for the elderly to cut poverty rate.
“The governor appealed to the president on the condition of federal roads in the state. He also told the president that the state will construct the Kosubosu-Bode Saadu Road to open up Kwara State. He also urged the president to give special attention to the roads.
Ajakaye also quoted AbdulRazaq as telling President Buhari that Kwara wants a Federal College of Education. He equally requested the fast tracking of the National Livestock Transformation Programme because Kwara wants to be an integral part of it, especially the dairy component of the programme,” the statement said.
President Buhari, on his part, commended the governor for the visit, his giant strides and his ongoing efforts in repositioning the state.