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No fewer than two hundred thousand Kwarans have been impacted under Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq’s poverty alleviation scheme tagged Kwara State Social Investment Programme (KWASSIP).
The Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to the Governor, Rafiu Ajakaye disclosed this on Thursday at the 37th Media Parliament of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Kwara State Council.
Ajakaye said the Governor is investing heavily in human capital development and critical sectors to make the state economically viable, self-sufficient, reduce poverty, and boost quality of life.
He disclosed that over 200,000 people of the state have benefitted from the state Social Investment programme (KWASSIP) schemes that he noted reduces the propensity for fraud, “as every applicant and beneficiary has a unique financial identity.”
According to him “In a report presented to the Governor on March 14, 2022, a research team of the Armed Forces Command and Staff College Jaji, Kaduna State, said KWASSIP could lift up to 500,000 low-income people out of extreme poverty in the next five years.
“In all of these, there is a reality we must all live with: not only is our demography changing at a fast rate in favour of young people, the government has never been designed to provide jobs for everyone. Many young people are now looking beyond the traditional 9-5 job cycle. Except as a last resort, and for want of better opportunities, many now dream to be their own bosses or to find their feet in the private sector. While many want to invest in their own businesses, a horde of them are leaning towards the opportunities offered by new technology, arts and entertainment,” he said.
Ajakaye, who spoke on the topic “Unleashing Kwara Economic Potentials: AbdulRazaq’s Magic Wand for the Next Four Years”, explained that the government has invested in road infrastructure to lessen travel time, ease movement of goods, people, and services, improve productivity, and boost quality of life.
“The Governor has prioritized spendings on infrastructural renewal and expansion within the metropolis and other areas, as support for small and medium scale enterprises, creative industries, entertainment, tourism and conferencing, arts and culture, innovation and technology, trade, agro processing, and human capital development. This will create direct jobs, reduce poverty, and lessen crime rates.”
He said the ready-to-take off garment factory will, for a start, be sewing ready-made clothes on an industrial scale with corresponding benefits to the state, adding it will create at least 2,000 direct jobs along its different value chains.
He also said the administration has chosen to complete Osi and Ilesha Baruba campuses of Kwara State University, because the campuses will cause rapid socioeconomic development in Kwara South and Kwara North, adding that the phase 1 of the project is now more than 80% completed.
“Visual Arts Centre is not a facility without a ready-made market. Kwara has bred some of the finest talents in the creative industry, and it is a no-brainer that the government will have beneficial partnerships with the movers and shakers of the industry.
“A corollary to that is the Sugar Factory Film Studio, which is another big movie production facility sited in the old Tate and Lyle building, hence the name sugar factory film studio. These facilities visual arts centre and the sugar factory film studio will help to promote related courses offered at the Kwara State University and other institutions, thereby creating a unique link between the gown and the market. The sugar film factory is 85% completed.
“It may also interest you that the much-talked about Industrial Park (Phase 1) is now being constructed on the Ilorin-Eiyenkorin- Ogbomoso Highway. At 48% work level for its preliminary works, it spans over 20 hectares of land, with huge economic potential. It will be a standalone community on its own, comprising its own schools, hospitals, malls, police station, warehouses, shops, and other facilities. This in itself will generate thousands of jobs for our people, and help to spread economic prosperity. Another industrial park is planned for Kwara South, and talks are still ongoing in that regard.
“In Kaiama, the administration is constructing a sheanut processing factory which harnesses the potentials of the local community in sheanut. It is known in local Batonu language as Nogbe Kure, roughly meaning ‘shea by she’. This factory will employ hundreds of workers, mostly from the local community, and will overtime spur improved economic activities. Barring any unforeseen delays, the sheanut processing factory will be delivered in the last quarter of this year.”
Ajakaye however urged the people of the state to continue their support for the Governor and thanked media personnel for their continued trust in the government and how they are professional in discharge of their duties.
In his remarks, the state NUJ Chairman, Ahmed Abdullateef, said while many states go cap in hand to obtain their monthly allocations from the federation, Kwara state can boast with what it has to better the lots of the citizenry.
“If the state government could muster the courage and the willpower to grow the state economy through agriculture, tech, arts, beyond the routine lip service, Kwara will become a pace-setter in terms of employment for an army of unemployed youth,” he said.
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