Ali Ahmad Knocks Kwara Govt for Marginalizing Local Contractors, Says Policy is Anti-Indigenous

By Omowumi Omotosho

Former Speaker of the Kwara State House of Assembly, Ali Ahmad, has strongly condemned the Kwara State government for sidelining indigenous contractors, calling its policy unfair and destructive to the state’s economy. Ahmad made the statement on Friday while speaking to National Pilot newspaper.

“Yes, it’s unfortunate that the Kwara State government has this policy of relegating our indigenous contractors. This is not fair to us. It’s not fair to our economy,” Ahmad fumed.

He accused the government of abandoning the long-standing practice of awarding major contracts to capable local businesses, a move he believes has stifled economic growth and blocked essential skill transfer within the state.

“I remember during our time, we had the Beatles of this world, the Morgan of this world, Ibrahim Omo Adura, Henry George of this world. Even if you were not using these people, you had Moshood Agoro, who was once a leader of this group. They organized themselves into a group and were getting multibillionaire contracts,” he recalled.

Ahmad expressed outrage at the government’s apparent refusal to support indigenous contractors in any significant way.

“Now, apart from a few hundred thousand, a few millions, where do you have this transferred skills, technology, and impact on local government? So, it’s very saddening that the Kwara State government is treating our indigenous contractors the way they are,” he stated.

Demanding immediate action, Ahmad urged the administration to reconsider its stance.

“My advice to the Kwara State government is that they should change this policy. Change this policy towards indigenous contractors. They still have two years plus,” he insisted.

He reminded the government that in its early years, it had shown some commitment to local businesses and called for a return to that approach.

“They came during the first one or two years about this. They should go back to that and start patronizing indigenous contractors,” he advised.

However, Ahmad warned that if the government fails to act, the opposition will step in to correct the injustice once in power.

“Well, if they will not do that, once the PDP government comes back in Kwara State in 2027, I assure these indigenous contractors that we will patronize them. We will not only give them multibillionaire contracts, we will as well patronize them so that they impact the economy and the local content issues of the state,” he declared.