By Bukola Adama
Agriculture will be made mainstay of economy of Local Government Areas in Kwara State, towards strengthening their financial capacities.
This was disclosed by the state Governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara State while speaking during a Sallah homage by Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu Gambari at the Government House, Ilorin, yesterday.
He said that the state government will support local governments to explore abundant untapped opportunities in the agriculture to boost their revenue capacity.
This according to him, is to enable them augment their dwindling allocation to be able to pay their workers and embark on other small projects.
The governor told the Emir that state is making several efforts to assist the local government to offset their backlog of salaries.
Apart from assisting them with some fund to augment their allocation, according to the governor, we are planning of linking them with experts in the Kwara Internal Revenue Service to help them drive their revenue to a desirable level.
While praising the Buhari-led government for making agriculture one of his cardinal agenda, the governor said the state government thought that agriculture is another area the local government can explore to improve their Internally Generated Revenue.
He also reminded all potential council Chairmen in the coming local government election to brace up to drive revenue if they must excel.
He explained that council work this time was not to come and just sit, but its requires council Chairmen to think outside the box on how to augment their continuous dwindling allocation.
He told the monarch about the government’s Off takers Demand Driven Agriculture, which he said the government is using as a platform to empower youths in the state.
The Governor also assured Kwarans that the hardship they were passing through would soon be over with the gradual improvement in the country’s economy.
He spoke of his intention to embark on renovation of basic school across the state once the state government received its counterparts fund from Universal Basic Education Commission.
He reaffirmed that there will not be abandoned projects at the expiration of his tenure, saying all projects had been fashioned under the newly introduced special funding window tagged IF-K.
The Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu Gambari praised the present administration for ensuring peaceful co-existence in the state.
He eulogised the Abdulfatah-led government for its developmental projects across the state.
He also tasked the government to intervene in the problem confronting the local government areas in the state as regards salaries payment.
The monarch therefore, canvassed support for the government in order to achieve its masses – oriented projects.
