Indigenous contractors appeal for government patronage in Kwara

Indigenous contractors in Kwara state have appealed to Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq to give them preference when considering contractors for capital projects by his administration.

Speaking with journalists in Ilorin during a meeting of the association on Wednesday, president of the group, Mr. Mashood Aigoro, said many of their members did not have required documents to qualify them as contractors because they had been out of patronage of government for many years.

“Immediate past administrations in the state were known for giving out contracts only to their cronies from outside the state because of the alleged dirty deals they were using them for and as a result, we could not bother to update our papers with the state government, since it cost a huge amount of money.

“We have all the necessary equipment and skills to handle and deliver any kind of project given to us, ranging from roads, building, electrical, water and many more to the standard.

“We believe that if the government really wants to help us, they can be removing all the charges for our company papers from the source before paying us for any work done”, he said.

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The president of the association with 18,000 registered membership pledged their support for the present APC government.

The people also compared empowering them through their handiwork to empowering their households, saying, “The real poverty alleviation of this government can begin with us because many households would be touched positively when we start getting the patronage of government and the money made will surely be reinvested in the state and in turn boost the state economy”.

Mr. Aigoro also advised Governor Abdulrazaq to be wary of some people in government, who he said might be working at cross purposes against his planned development agenda.

Meanwhile, the association said their members in Water Engineering field had discovered another means of getting water to a larger society from a particular spot instead of indiscriminate digging of boreholes which they said might cause an ecological disaster in the future.