By Dare Akogun
The Federal government has approved the construction of the Kishi-Kaiama road at the contract sum of N27 billion.
The Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq made this known while speaking in Ilorin at the first Kwara North Economic and Development Summit organised by Kwara North Development Council (KWANDCO).
He explained that the state had earlier taken over the construction of the road in phases to ease transportation challenges along the busy corridor but has now stopped its ongoing work on the road.
According to him “The Federal Ministry of Works has informed us that we should stop work on that road because they have got new approval from the Federal Government and the contract for the road has been reissued at N27bn
“There is a huge infrastructural deficit in the whole of Nigeria, in Kwara State, and especially in Kwara North. Now, what are we doing about it as a government? Like it was mentioned by the Emir of Lafiagi, the Kishi-Kaiama road is very important for the whole of the country because of the volume of trade in farm produce
“The contract was first awarded over 10 years ago and it is a federal road. However, nothing was happening. But when we came, we tried to continue the project and the Federal Ministry of Works has now asked us to terminate the contract and vacate the road.
“The ministry said the former administration in the state gave the contract to a company that did not meet BPE requirements. So, we removed them and gave it to the company that came second in the bid and we mobilised the company with as much as N600m.
“Our latest communication with them was that they want to re-award the contract and that our own contractor should vacate the site. That is why you will see that work has stopped on Kishi-Kaiama road.”
The Governor also promised that work will begin on the Bode-Saadu-Kosubosu road next year, saying the project will be financed through a portion of BUA Group tax.
“We are also trying to construct Bode-Saadu-Kaiama-Kosubosu road using the road tax infrastructure scheme with BUA Group.
“Hopefully, by the first quarter of 2023 work should begin on that road. The plan is that BUA Group will use a portion of its tax to the federal government to fund the road. We have been on that discussion with BUA to open up Bode-Saadu-Kaiama-Kosubosu road.
“Most of our major roads are federal roads and they are in deplorable conditions. You can see Share-Patigi road in deplorable condition.
“It is not just in Kwara North. Ilorin-Kabba road is a federal project and we are not happy about the situation of that road at all. We wrote the Federal Ministry of Works few days ago to quickly fix some roads in the state.”
AbdulRazaq assured the people of the state that his administration will henceforth improve on the specifications of the state roads to make them last longer.
He lauded KWANDCO for organising the summit, saying the discussions around infrastructure, agriculture, healthcare and human capital development will help in bringing the needed development to Kwara North and the state as a whole.
In his remarks the Senator representing Kwara North Pharm. Sadiq Umar commended AbdulRazaq’s administration for its inclusiveness, equity and justice in decentralising resources to get to the smallest areas for even development.
Senator Umar also called for deliberate funds for agriculture and collaboration between the state and federal governments in attracting support to the sector.
Emir of Ilesha Baruba Prof. Halidu Abubakar, who spoke on “Embracing knowledge economy for sustainable economic development in Kwara North: The Urgency of now,“ identified the agricultural sector as the “Low hanging fruit” available in Kwara North to adopt knowledge economic model.
The Emir of Lafiagi, Muhammad Kudu Kawu, for his part, advocated the creation of an interface between the government, private sector and Kwara North communities for a massive injection of investments through what he called Public Private Communal Partnership (PPCPs) to kick start economic growth in Kwara North.
He said it was impossible for government to undertake all the infrastructural projects, hence a need for collaboration and sincerity on the part of the citizens too.
Emir of Shonga, Dr Haliru Yahaya, called for enhanced focus on information and communications technology to leapfrog development in the health sector.
He also encouraged parents and guardians to get their children immunised appropriately.
Chairman KWANDCO, Comrade Kolo Jerry said the summit would come up with an actionable blueprint to chart the developmental course of Kwara North and change the existing narrative.
