– His Investment Drive Attracts Foreign Investors
– It’s The First Time Any Govt Would Help Us – Chairman, TOAN
Ends have a plain simplicity like graves – the end of friendships and the end of loves. In politics, ends are quite poignant too. The end of pillage and ineptitude. The end of a soulless, sectarian leadership, which often manifests in sustenance of the status quo, where a feckless government succeeds a dreary predecessor.
Otherwise, the end of a government could result in a recourse to freedom – as was the case in Kwara State.
Through the dark consequences of Kwara’s hosting of his predecessors in the State House – PDP’s Bukola Saraki and Abdulfattah Ahmed who ruled for eight years each – Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq emerged with a halo of hope centred upon his head.
From the moment he declared his intent to vie for Kwara’s most coveted political seat, to the moment of his victory at the fiercely contested gubernatorial elections, Abdulrazaq beamed reassurance of change that the long-suffering people of Kwara could believe in.
He radiated lucent hope thus flooding the darkness hitherto imposed on the state by his predecessors, with the light of his administration; Abdulrazaq beamed convincingly, highlighting opportunities and potentials for the future. That’s why the people turned to him. That’s why they believed him.
Governor Abdulrazaq embodies and inspires optimism in the fight against institutional rot and corruption.
Since he took over power, he has injected creativity, joy and hope into a state erstwhile teetering on the dire precipice of distress. Abdulrazaq is a powerful force who has used his policies and his voice to ensure that the “O to ge” movement by which he and his ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), dislodged the ex-senate president, Bukola Saraki-led PDP in the state, encompasses a diversity of voices, especially women, the elderly, the children and other segments of the vulnerable divide.
Abdulrazaq has pulled chairs to the table, reached more voices and made sure everyone has a role to play in fighting corruption, policy failure, poverty and rebuilding Kwara into a formidable force in the comity of prosperous and economically buoyant states.
In his bid to improve the fortunes of the state, Governor Abdulrazaq understands that growth is impossible and unsustainable if the citizenry are largely impoverished. Hence his series of economic intervention and empowerment programmes targeted at the states most impoverished segments.
Recently, his administration, in collaboration with the SEAP Microfinance Institute launched 100 tricycles to ease transportation challenges, stimulate macroeconomic economic activities, and reduce poverty in the state.
The government also officially enrolled members of the Tricycle Owners Association of Nigeria (TOAN) on the informal package of the state’s health insurance scheme — a step the body hailed as beneficial while also commending the Governor for granting them official recognition.
A major fruit of the partnership, enthused Abdulrazaq was the enrolment of TOAN members in the Kwara State health insurance.
He commended SIMBA/TVS for the 12-month warranty on the tricycles and offer of free service for the same period. He also appreciated the firm for its decision to locate its Service, Sales, and Spares Centre in Offa, in Kwara State, highlighting the attendant economic benefits of the step.
The administration had also implemented four major programmes and interventions that are meant to save jobs, create jobs, and prevent the people from falling into destitution, AbdulRazaq said, referring to some initiatives funded under the Kwara State Social Investment Programme.
These interventions included government’s soft loans for traders, transporters, and grants running into millions of naira for dozens of victims of ENDSARS riots.
The government also granted non-interest loans to 170 young people to strengthen or get their businesses started even as similar support was offered to farmers.
Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Community Intervention, Kayode Oyin-Zubair, for his part, said the community transport intervention project is a direct response to the request from TOAN members, saying the intervention is a total departure from the traditional empowerment programmes.
“Each beneficiary has committed themselves to an equity contribution. We have agreed with SEAP Microfinance that all equity contributions will be refunded to dutiful beneficiaries that completely liquidate their credit under the 18 months tenor of this intervention. Apart from the insurance on their vehicles, we have equally enrolled all beneficiaries with Kwara State Health Insurance Agency,” Oyin-Zubair said.
Executive Programme Director SEAP Microfinance Bank Dr Oladokun Olatunde said the bank partnered the state government to boost the state economy and reduce pressure on the government.
“We are supporting the state government to strengthen public-private partnership. We decided that most of the people rely on government and that has been draining the limited resources of the government. So, we thought to put money that the government is supposed to give them and whoever made full payment will get the money, make some savings and get another tricycles,” he said.
The chairman, Tricycles Owners Association of Nigeria Alhaji Saliu Gidado applauded the government of AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq for its interventions and for approving the certificate of the association to operate as Tricycles Transport Service provider under the state Ministry of Works, saying previous efforts to be independent like any other unions Kwara State had proved abortive.
According to him, Governor Abdulrazaq’s intervention was the first of its kind; “the first time any government will be doing this for us. This will go a long way in ameliorating the sufferings of the masses in the state in terms of transportation,” he said.