Wole Adedeji, Ilorin
In June this year, water started flowing from taps in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital. That would be the first time in 12 years. And it would be shortly after the new Governor, Alhaji AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, took over the mantle of leadership in the state on Wednesday, May 29.
Before now, billions of naira had allegedly been spent on various water projects across the state, particularly Ilorin. Every year since 2003, budget proposals put before the House of Assembly by governors were approved but yet, water never flowed.
That water suddenly started flowing was not only surprising to residents, the pipes through which it flows also protested the sudden outburst of the liquid, as streets were flooded from massive leakages, occasioned by rust from long years of disuse.
The style of leadership of Governor AbdulRazaq is new to Kwarans, especially the civil service. His first one month in office brought back to memory what governors were doing during the dark period of military regimes with unscheduled visits to government institutions. But, while the style of a military governor was to instill fear and abruptly end careers, that of Governor AbdulRazaq was with joy. He was simply going round to take stock. This is paying off and the people seem happy about the results.
For instance, water began to flow when he visited the Water Corporation office. He was told that for years, money was not released for the provision of that essential commodity to the people. The governor also learnt that it would cost even pittance to make water flow in the state capital. The sum of N20 million was subsequently released for a start. With that amount, Ilorin residents were greeted with taps, flowing with water whereas billions of naira had allegedly been spent by previous governments with no results.
According to findings by The Nigerian Xpress, the same story is virtually in all sectors of government. Salaries are being paid, ditto pensions. Gullies, potholes, dilapidated schools as well as public buildings are being fixed and ‘area boys’, known to have their command headquarters at Iloffa Road, inside Government Reservation Area, GRA, in the state capital, have suddenly disappeared.
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State-owned institutions like the Colleges of Education in Ilorin, Lafiagi and Oro as well as the College of Arabic and Islamic Legal Studies, CAILS, were also visited by the governor. The state university, the polytechnic and the College of Health Technology, Offa, were not left out. These institutions had been reported several times to be seriously starved of funds for years which affected their operations. The university, for instance, last year, cried out that for five years, it had not been given subventions, forcing it to resort to all manner of internal revenue sources for survival.
The same is the story of the polytechnic that was reportedly mandated to astronomically increase its admission figures annually, as a way of generating fund, with which they could survive. Most of the programmes in the institutions that ought to have been accredited by the necessary bodies could not be done because of the alleged insensitivity of the previous governments.
In all, the governor visited even the dead Federal Government-owned Bacita Sugar Company, NISUCO, the Nigerian Yeast and Alcohol Company, NIYAMCO, and the Nigerian Paper Mill, Jebba, which in the eighties, employed more than 10,000 workers in Kwara State alone. In all these places, the governor promised to scout round the world for investors that would ensure that happy days return to the companies again.
Governor AbdulRazaq started to spring surprises the day he was sworn in when he drove himself to the venue in a Toyota Hilux 4-wheel drive pick-up. He had since been officially driving himself around in the convoy of security aides. Not only that, his knack for making unscheduled visits to government establishments, which even his personal staff would not know about, marks him out as Mr. Surprise.
Sources said, perhaps, the governor was doing this even as the governor-elect to take time to listen to all shades of information about the government he wanted to inherit with a view to have a direct feel of the situation first hand, before settling down fully to governance.
For now, the governor is beaming searchlights on the activities of the immediate past government as it concerns what he met on ground vis-à-vis the shady areas said to require clarifications. To arrive at this, he had set up various committees to look into many areas of governance particularly finance, government properties, liabilities, salaries, pensions, projects and sundry matters.
For instance, a 21-man Assets Recovery Committee was set up to take stock of government assets when it was discovered that management of government assets were shrouded in secrecy and unresolved controversies. While submitting its interim reports, chairman of the Committee, Senator Suleiman Ajadi said urgent decisions needed to be taken on the recommendations that he was submitting.
Ajadi said during the presentation event: “There are so many thorny issues surrounding the control and management of some assets like the Kwara Hotel, the International Aviation College, the amorphous case of the Shonga Farms and the entire Harmony Holdings structure. We are also looking into the issue of the amusement park which was sold in very unclear circumstances for a princely sum of N100 million in 2010 but which, perhaps fortuitously has been bogged down since because of litigation.”
Ajadi called on Governor AbdulRazaq to look critically at the issues and make pronouncements in the immediate future even before the final report was made available saying “this is because quite a few of the issues highlighted are growing concerns which will require prompt government attention and action”, boasting that the governor could count on him and his Committee members to face up to the challenges and make sure that justice is done to the issues he raised.
At a point, the governor had to explain why he was touring government facilities. He had said he embarks on the visit in order to fully appreciate the extent of the rot he inherited in the system. He said since he was sworn in, he had embarked on various unscheduled visits to where a lot of inadequacies running into millions of naira have been discovered.
Speaking to newsmen in Ilorin, the governor said the rots were so much and needed proper planning, spanning multiple budget years to fix. His words: “I have come to see things for myself. We have always known that the rot is unimaginable. But it is important that I see things for myself and I have seen things for myself.”
On one occasion Governor AbdulRazaq declared that he inherited an office that was leaking and has nowhere to sit and work. The governor who said this during one of his unscheduled visits that took him to the premises of the state Radio Station also disclosed that the government that he inherited had been reduced to “minus zero” by the previous regime pointing out that the past administration allowed the situation in various sectors of governance to deteriorate.
Apparently out of anger he said: “They just took the money. It was shameful that capable hands had been rendered redundant and both the government and those in charge felt they should not do anything about it.”
After visiting substantial number of government institutions, the governor said his first priority was to get things working again in the state and restore confidence in Kwara State. He said he would focus on areas such as fixing bad roads, getting water running and getting moribund institutions back to work again.
In most of the places he had declared: “Things are in a bad state. But that is the way things are all over the state. What we are trying to do is to get things gradually working the way they used to be. Now, how does that affect you here? We will get you back to work. We will clear whatever has to be cleared. It is a difficult task.
“There’s no money but we will manage our resources. For the month of May, we received N3.2 billion allocation and salary alone gulped N2.2 billion. So, only N1billion is left to run government institutions and fix hospitals and water works. We just have to manage our resources…and put the little resources in the right place. We would, however, later embark on capital projects that would transform the state. We have big developmental projects to do. But our priority right now is to stabilise things and bring things back to normal. We will get everyone back to work first. Then after that, we will now look at major projects, getting the people the necessary tools and restore the glory of our state.”
Making good his promise, the governor started by releasing funds for necessary working of governance. He approved payment of N232 million for immediate payment of Kwara State Counterpart funding of Primary Healthcare and Health Insurance Scheme. The money was also to cater for the nutrition programme for under-3 children in the state. The money included N100 million counterpart funds for Basic Healthcare Provision Funds, BHPV; N50 million for Accelerating Nutrition Results in Nigeria, ANRIN; and another N82 million to access global grants for malaria.
Also, the governor shortly after assumption of office took up the alleged mis-management of the Universal Basic Education Commission, UBEC, fund for years by the previous government, which had denied the state access to the Commission’s funding of primary education and its attendant implications on both the teachers, the pupils, infrastructures and learning generally in schools. The governor promptly scouted for the diversion of N450 million that caused a deficit to enable the state access subsequent UBEC funds.
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The approval came few days after UBEC officials narrated how the government of Ex-Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed had allegedly diverted N1.5 billion 2013 funds allocated to Kwara and how that had led to the official blacklisting of the state from UBEC. Payment of the N450 million, according to government sources, was a pre-condition for re-admitting Kwara back to UBEC after a five-year ban under the administration of the former governor. Lamenting the ‘criminal neglect’ of the education sector and the decrepit state of infrastructure, government in a statement said the governor immediately paid the N450 million “in the interest of the children, restore Kwara’s relationship with UBEC and commit whatever fund accessed only for the purpose for which it was meant.”
Rafiu Ajakaiye, the Chief Press Secretary to the governor in a reaction to the development said; “The situation before was such that Kwara could no longer approach UBEC because the previous administration diverted the 2013 funds. That sullied the name of the state. Now, the governor has put that ugly chapter behind the people of Kwara State. Kwara currently ranks 37th or the lowest on the UBEC Matching Grant Disbursement Performance.”
Governor AbdulRazaq also ended an ongoing industrial action across Kwara State Colleges of Education when he approved N250 million to pay at least two months of the workers’ outstanding salary. He also assured the schools of subsequent regular and prompt payment of their salaries along with gradual offset of the arrears inherited from his predecessor whose acts of insensitivity forced the schools to embark on a prolonged strike.
The affected colleges were Kwara State College of Education, Oro; Kwara State College of Education, Ilorin; Kwara State College of Education (Technical) Lafiagi; Kwara State College of Arabic and Islamic Legal Studies (CAILS), Ilorin; Kwara State College of Nursing and Midwifery, Ilorin and Kwara State College of Nursing, Oke Ode. N250.774 million of the money at the time covered salaries for the months of May and June, 2019.
Concerned about the status of the schools, the governor also approved additional N25 million for the College of Education Technical, Lafiagi for immediate re-accreditation and N24.8 million for CAILS for re-accreditations.
Recently too, the government announced its readiness to create a viable Inland Trade and Export Processing Zone along Kwara-Benin Republic border. This was planned to be done in collaboration with the Federal Government to boost economic activities in the state. The governor had declared during a meeting with the Comptroller of Immigration Service, Kwara State Command, Mrs. Edith Onyemenam, at the Government House, in Ilorin that: “Our administration is ready to partner with the Nigeria Immigration Service and other relevant bodies to strengthen security in the state, particularly in the western borders with Benin Republic.”
In the entrepreneurships sector, AbdulRazaq had pledged adequate support for the growth of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises, SME, because according to him, their success is key for the socio-economic development of the state. Also, he said SMEs would begin immediate interventions to boost youth empowerment and employment.
He said: “Our focal point is enterprise and we’ll get more youth involved. It is a win-win situation. We will support them so that they can also pay taxes to the government.”
He assured the private sector of providing enabling environment to support them in expanding their businesses and urged youth in the state to be enterprising in order to improve the economy.
Meanwhile, the Ilorin Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has submitted the particulars of top officials of the government of former Governor Ahmed on its watch list and under investigations, who The Nigerian Xpress learnt were planning to escape the country to the Nigerian Immigration Service, NIS, Kwara State Command so that they would not be able to sneak out un-noticed.
The EFCC made the revelation through the Ilorin Zonal Head of the Commission, Mr. Isyaku Sharu, who received Mrs. Onymenam and other NIS senior officers on a courtesy visit to EFCC office in Ilorin.
The Commission had disclosed that the need to familiarise with the NIS with the particulars of such personalities under its investigation became necessary following intelligence reports that these former government officials on the watch list had procured forged police reports with which they planned to apply for another international passports to escape from the country.
In Kwara, the slogan that preceded 2019 general election was ‘O to ge e’. This was a message to the incumbent government and the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, that the people were tired of a political system known as ‘Saraki Dynasty’ and it must end. O to ge e succeeded in dislodging Saraki. The slogan immediately changed to ‘O t’ope’ after the election. And as soon as Governor AbdulRazaq was sworn in and he resumed work, the slogan has become ‘Ise ya’.
