Kwara holds budget review in special needs school

Kwara State on Tuesday held budget review meeting at the state School for Special Needs, Apata Yakuba, Ilorin, the state capital.
The state Governor, Alhaji Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq directed top civil servants to meet him at the school for the mid-year budget review session.
In what was a first in the state’s history, Abdulrazaq said he purposely scheduled the meeting for the school to let the top bureaucrats and government functionaries appreciate the need to allocate resources in manners that directly benefit the downtrodden in the society.
The Governor had earlier visited the school a few weeks ago to listen to the teachers and inspect the facilities. He thereafter apologised to the students with a promise to quickly attend to their needs.
Speaking at the meeting, Abdulrazaq said; “Work has started, in line with our Iseya mantra. I’m sorry to drag you here; it is symbolic. This is necessary for you to understand that there are other people who have needs that we should meet. I want (the budget) to be more inclusive going forward.”
The meeting was attended by the Head of Service, Mrs Susan Modupe Oluwole; Chairman of the Kwara State Internal Revenue Service (KW-IRS); Permanent Secretaries; Directors and heads of various government departments and parastatals.
Abdulrazaq told the bureaucrats that bringing them to the school was to ensure that budgets are made to reflect the condition of the people, and not a show of executive powers.
“I’ve been here before and I know they have needs. The pupils here don’t have access to very basic needs. They don’t have light. They can’t read. This is a trend across the state. Our schools are in bad states. This is why we emphasise the need to get basic things running first,” he said.
“The budget should be realistic. We should bring things back to standard. So, bringing you here is to encourage you to feel the situation here. It is not impunity. It is for us to understand the terrible state of things. It is to make you appreciate the situation here. I want you to appreciate the environment in which you work.
“We want to put basic things in place first before we move into big budget (projects). We will eventually embark on those (big) things but we want to put basic things in place first.”
He urged the top civil servants and wealthy members of the society to help the needy such as the special needs children and other disadvantaged members of the society.
The meeting was the second time the Governor would pull top civil servants to the hinterland to have a feel of the condition of the people.
In June, Abdulrazaq summoned Permanent Secretaries and other officials to Patigi, in Kwara North, following his visit to some schools and hospitals whose conditions he said were unacceptable.

… urges community unions to promote industrialisation

The Kwara State Government has called on affluent individuals and corporate organisations to come and invest in the state in order to boost industrial development.
The Deputy Governor, Mr. Kayode Alabi stated this in Ilorin while receiving executives of Offa Descendants Union (ODU), Ilorin Branch in his office on Tuesday.
Alabi, stressed that government alone cannot meet the need of the people hence the call to industrialists.
The Deputy Governor, who recalled the industrial acumen of the indigenes of Offa applauded ODU for putting together the Offa economic summit which he noted would lead to the industrialisation of the town and the state at large.
He urged the various unions to play active role in the development and industrialisation of their community to exterminate poverty and gainfully engage the youths.
Alabi reiterated the state government’s zero tolerance for thuggery pledging that the vices would be flushed out of Kwara with the support of the people and security agencies.
Earlier, the Chairman of ODU Ilorin Branch, Alhaji Mufutau Salaudeen who spoke through Prof. Olawoye Adegboye assured the present administration of the support of the people of the town.
He however prayed for the success of the administration in its task of moving the state to the next level.