From Layi Olanrewaju, Ilorin
Kwara State Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq at the weekend announced that Federal Government has approved the construction of the Kishi-Kaiama road at the contract sum of N27bn, saying the breakthrough with Abuja explains why the state government has now stopped its ongoing work on the road.
The state had taken over the construction of the road in phases to ease transportation challenges along the busy corridor.
“The Federal Ministry of Works has informed us that we should stop work on that road because they have got new approval from the Federal Government and the contract for the road has been reissued at N27bn,” Abdulrazaq said in Ilorin at the first Kwara North Economic and Development Summit organised by Kwara North Development Council (KWANDCO).
“There is a huge infrastructural deficit in the whole of Nigeria, in Kwara State, and especially in Kwara North. Now, what are we doing about it as a government? Like it was mentioned by the Emir of Lafiagi, the Kishi-Kaiama road is very important for the whole of the country because of the volume of trade in farm produce,” he said.
“The contract was first awarded over 10 years ago and it is a federal road. However, nothing was happening. But when we came, we tried to continue the project and the Federal Ministry of Works has now asked us to terminate the contract and vacate the road. The ministry said the former administration in the state gave the contract to a company that did not meet BPE requirements. So, we removed them and gave it to the company that came second in the bid and we mobilized the company with as much as N600m.
“Our latest communication with them was that they want to re-award the contract and that our own contractor should vacate the site. That is why you will see that work has stopped on Kishi-Kaiama road.”
The governor promised that work will begin on the Bode-Saadu-Kaiama-Kosubosu road next year, saying the project will be financed through a portion of BUA Group tax.
“We are also trying to construct the Bode-Saadu-Kaiama-Kosubosu road using the road tax infrastructure scheme with BUA Group. Hopefully, by the first quarter of 2023 work should begin on that road. The plan is that BUA Group will use a portion of its tax on the federal government to fund the road. We have been in that discussion with BUA to open up Bode-Saadu-Kaiama-Kosubosu road.
“Most of our major roads are federal roads and they are in deplorable conditions. You can see Share-Patigi road in deplorable condition. That road was awarded a few years ago but was not done. I was with the Etsu Patigi some weeks ago; we had to move in and save an almost collapsed bridge on that road and several points of the road in which the state government had to come in to save the situation. It is not just in Kwara North. Ilorin-Kabba road is a federal project and we are not happy about the situation of that road at all. We wrote the Federal Ministry of Works a few days ago to quickly fix some roads in the state.”
Abdulrazaq assured the people of the state that his administration will henceforth improve the specifications of the state roads to make them last longer.
He added: “From the next budget, we will have a new focus on the way we construct our road. Right now, all we do is compacted latrite and asphalt. Such roads, truly, will not last long. The specifications of our roads will change with compacted laterite, stone base, and asphalt on it. If you look at the Ilesha-Baruba-Chikanda road, it has fallen apart because it was just surface dressing. It won’t last. That’s the major issue with our roads today. Gradually, we are building one-two kilometres roads in our cities so as to see that infrastructure gets to every part of the state and reduces travel time.
“As part of our infrastructural development to evacuate farm produce, Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project (RAAMP) will begin next year to ease the movement of farm produce from rural areas to urban centres. We have made all the payments.”
He commended the KWANDCO for organizing the summit, saying the discussions around infrastructure, agriculture, healthcare and human capital development will help in bringing the needed development to Kwara North and the state as a whole.
Senator Sadiq Umar (Kwara North) commended Abdulrazaq’s administration for its inclusiveness, equity and justice in decentralizing resources to get to the smallest areas for even development.
“In Kwara North, we have extensive arable land and water bodies from Baruten, Kaiama, Moro, Edu and Patigi, good climate conditions for agriculture which means we are so blessed and can be very rich if only the right things can be done. Over 80 per cent of arable land is either uncultivated or under-cultivated because we need technology and knowledge to be able to do that,” he said.
Senator Umar also called for deliberate funds for agriculture and collaboration between the state and federal governments in attracting support to the agricultural sector.
Emir of Ilesha Baruba Prof. Halidu Abubakar, who spoke on “Embracing knowledge economy for sustainable economic development in Kwara North: The Urgency of now”, identified the agricultural sector as the “low-hanging fruit” available in Kwara North to adopt knowledge economic model.
“If the knowledge economy will succeed, it will rely on the collaborative effort of government, civil society, politicians and nongovernmental bodies. The proposed model offers a lot of promise like it is inherently bedevilled by a variety of key challenges, the majority of which can impact negatively on the implementation of a knowledge economy, if not properly addressed at the preliminary stages,” he said.
The Emir of Lafiagi Alhaji Muhammad Kudu Kawu, for his part, advocated the creation of an interface between the government, the private sector and Kwara North communities for a massive injection of investments through what he called Public Private Communal Partnership (PPCPs) to kick start economic growth in Kwara North.
Emir of Shonga Dr Haliru Yahaya called for an enhanced focus on information and communications technology to leapfrog development in the health sector.
He also encouraged parents and guardians to get their children immunized appropriately.
Chairman KWANDCO Comrade Kolo Jerry said the summit would come up with an actionable blueprint to chart the developmental course of Kwara North and change the existing narrative.