Kwara PDP, APC bicker over governor’s performance after one year in office

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kwara State has described one year of Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq in office as disappointing and a waste.

Tribune Online reports that the PDP in a statement issued on Thursday by its state chairman, Hon. Kola Shittu, said that the “euphoria that greeted the coming of the present administration has waned significantly.”

However, the chief press secretary to the governor, Rafiu Ajakaye, said that Governor Abdulrahman, in just 12 months, has successfully changed the Kwara state narrative, adding that “the administration inherited and has rescued a state that once tottered on the brink of collapse — at least in the area of human capital development indices”.

The PDP chairman, who said that no tangible achievement or accomplishment in any sector could be attributed to the governor since he assumed office on May 29, 2019, added that the government had always churned out false performance indicators.

“The governor’s performance has been utterly disappointing, uninspiring and a colossal waste. This explains Kwarans’ growing disillusionment with this government. There is no gainsaying that the euphoria that greeted the coming of the present administration has waned significantly.

“It’s saddening and disappointing to Kwarans that after a year in office, the present administration cannot point to any tangible achievement or accomplishment it has recorded in any sector. The Abdulrazaq’s administration cannot lay claim to the completion of a single project, initiated by it in the last 365 days, save for rehabilitation of roads, construction of culverts, interlocking and fixing of potholes here and there. Even, the new Civil Servants Secretariat which the administration inherited from the PDP administration of Abdulfatah Ahmed at about 95 per cent completion stage is yet to be completed.

“Also, in the last 365 days, the Abdulrazaq’s administration has not implemented any policy or programme that has had direct impact on the lives of Kwarans. The administration which prides itself as a pro-masses one is yet to implement its much-talked about social intervention programmes for the suffering masses that voted it into power. It also has not initiated any programme to address the issue of youth unemployment in the state.

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“Whereas the PDP government of Maigida at inception, launched the Kwara Bridge Empowerment Scheme (KWABES) as a platform to generate reliable data of unemployed youths in the state and engage them in productive ventures. About 2,000 unemployed youths in the state were engaged under the scheme within the first 100 days of the administration, and more than 1,000 of them transited to permanent positions in the state civil service.

“Also, the issue of the implementation of the new N30,000 minimum wage for workers in the state is still in abeyance. Various negotiations held on the new minimum wage between the government and the organised labour before the outbreak of COVID-19 did not yield any fruitful result, and there is no assurance that the Abdulrazaq administration will implement the new minimum wage policy, which he promised Kwara workers,” he said.

Ajakaye, on his own said that performance of Governor Abdulrahman is glaring and beneficial to the people.

“From instant payment of relevant counterpart funds, which have brought back development partners, and taking the state off the UBEC blacklist, AbdulRazaq is taking steps to stabilise and reposition the state for growth.

“In the health sector, the administration began with injecting N232m to tackle malaria, maternal death, and malnutrition. On January 19, 2019, Kwara embarrassed Nigeria with the recording of Africa’s first vaccine-derived polio case. To end this, the new government returned routine polio vaccination across the state after many years. The administration has invested hugely in counterpart funds so much that by December 2019, Kwara has received N8bn worth of vaccines, drugs, and technical support from the Federal Government and development partners who had earlier left the state when basic obligations were not met by the previous regimes.

“Equipped with state-of-the-art ICU facility like defibrillators, patient monitors, ventilators, Kwara for the first time now has a five-ward air-conditioned isolation centre for infectious diseases. The administration has recently purchased five new military-grade ambulances with the capacity to manage fragile patients on the go. Apart from trainings for health workers, the administration was about the first in the country to pay mouth-watering allowances for medical workers managing COVID-19 patients. The long-dead oxygen plant has now been revived. Kwara, which used to buy oxygen for its hospitals, is today self-sufficient and can sell oxygen to neighbouring states and private hospitals.

“The administration is today constructing the multipurpose Maigida Bani road which connects farming communities in the north to those in the central for easy access to the market. The Gwanara road, famous for being the scene of unfortunate attack on some political leaders, is now receiving attention — thanks to the government getting the antigraft agencies to get the contractor back to site,” he said.