Come May 29, 2019, the Governor-elect, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq of the All Progressives Congress (APC) will take over the baton of leadership of Kwara State from Abdulfatah Ahmed of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Abdulrazaq, polled 331,546 votes to emerge as winner of the March 9, gubernatorial election while his closest rival, Razak Atunwa of the PDP scored 114,754 votes.
Returning officer, Prof. Sanusi Liman of the Federal University of Technology, Lafia, Nasarawa State announced the APC candidate the winner of the guber poll just as the party cleared all the 24 seats of the Kwara State House of Assembly.
But what should Kwarans and Kwara residents expect from the APC government in the next four y
ears? ADEBAYO OLODAN takes a look at areas the new APC government in the state may act on.
Council executives to be dissolved
Given that the council chairmen, their vice and councilors were elected in November 2017, their three years tenure is not expected to end until October 2020 but it won’t come as a surprise should the incoming Governor, Alhaji Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq under the All Progressives Congress (APC) kick out executives of the councils.
Though the Kwara State House of Assembly under the leadership of outgoing Speaker, Dr Ali Ahmad has passed a bill that prevents a new government from sacking serving council chairmen, it is however likely that the bill would be repealed by the incoming lawmakers who were all elected on the platform of the APC.
More so, it is unlikely that Abdulrazaq will be comfortable working with PDP council chairmen across the 16 LGs.
With the APC set to take over the leadership of the state in May, serving council chairmen across the 16 Local Government Areas of Kwara State may have to start preparing for their exit.
Some uncompleted projects may be abandoned
Some of the projects that may be left uncompleted by the outgoing PDP administration may be abandoned by the incoming APC government, especially if Abdulrazaq and his party are unable to interpret its essence to the people of the state.
It is not uncommon in this part of the world for a sitting government to consider certain interests in the initiation and execution of projects in communities, hence the APC is likely to embark on new projects in areas where its loyalists abound than complete inherited projects in areas dominated by members of the opposition parties. Moreso the incoming government would not want to live in the shadow of the outgoing administration since it is not a ‘government of continuity,’ it would rather carve a niche for itself in the area of infrastructural projects in particular.
Possible change of leadership of govt parastatals, agencies
With a new government enthroned in the state, the headship of government parastals and agencies such as the Kwara State Road Maintenance Agency (KWARMA), Kwara State Road Traffic Management Authority (KWARTMA), Harmony Holdings Limited (HHL) and the Kwara State Internal Revenue Service (KWIRS), among others may be replaced with loyalists of the All Progressives Congress without recourse to merit.
Also, government establishments like the Kwara Football Academy (KFA) and Harmony Express (formerly known as Kwara Express) may be scrapped if the APC government believes they are unproductive.
Increment in taxes
During the electioneering campaign, the Kwara APC made some promises to the electorate, which must be fulfilled in the next four years to guarantee the possibility of the party remaining at the Ahmadu Bello Way Government House beyond 2023.
However, to fulfill those promises, the APC administration under the incoming Governor, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq is likely to make an upward review of the taxes paid by residents of Kwara, especially with the concurrent drop in the monthly federal allocation to the state.
To shore up Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) in Kwara, Abdulrazaq’s adminstration is likely to introduce new taxes and may consider contracting Alpha Beta, an agency in charge of collection of taxes in Lagos and other Southwest states. The agency is said to be owned by the national leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Downsizing of the state workforce
Even before the March 9 governorship election in the state, the governor-elect, Abdulrazaq minced no words on his intention to reduce the number of civil servants in the state. He was quoted to have made the statement when the Labour Party governorship candidate, Comrade Issa Aremu, declared his support for the APC guber candidate.
According to Abdulrazaq, more than a few workers in the state civil service are redundant hence the need to downsize the workforce in the state. In addition, the incoming governor reportedly said for his administration to meet up with the N30,000 new minimum wage, it is imperative some workers get sacked.
After settling down for the business of governance in June, the APC administration may set-up a committee or panel that will screen the state workforce and make recommendations on ministries, parastatals and agencies that may appear ‘overcrowded’ with workers and those that should be kicked out of service.
Public schools may be merged
In another move to cut down the size of the state’s workforce and the cost of maintaining public schools, the incoming administration may likely reduce the number of government–owned schools through merging. Neighbouring schools with scanty population and poor facilities are likely to be merged by the incoming government. A classical example is the case of schools in the State of Osun under the leadership of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola.
Change in govt policies
With a new government comes a new leadership direction and likely reversal of policies of the previous administration.
The APC government is likely to study some of the policies of the immediate past PDP administration and will probably jettison a number of those policies that may appear not favourable to the party. Even before he was elected, the incoming governor, Abdulrazaq has made bold his intention to repel the pension law of former governors of the state and their deputies.
Power shift
The leadership of Kwara PDP, in a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with leaders of Kwara North ahead of the last governorship election, promised to return power to the senatorial district in 2023. The agreement was reached following unending agitations that the people of Kwara North last produced a governor in 1993 but what becomes the fate of that senatorial district under an APC government? Will the party pacify the governor-elect, Abdulrazaq to serve for one term and concede the seat to Kwara North in 2023, which is more unlikely as the incoming governor will be aiming for another four years after the expiration of his first term.
Salary arrears of SUBEB, LGs workers
One of the early challenges that the incoming administration will be confronted with is the salary arrears of State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) and local government workers, inherited from its predecessor.
One of the reasons the APC won the March 9 governorship election in the state was the promise of improved workers welfare and the payment of outstanding salaries of SUBEB and employees of local governments across Kwara State. With this promise in mind, most of the affected workers, their families and dependants appeared to have voted massively for the APC guber candidate and others and they will become agitated once the incoming administration fails to fulfill the pledge.
With the consistent short fall in the monthly federal allocation, it remains to be seen how the incoming administration will offset the salary backlog of the aforesaid workers within its first few months in office.
