The Kwara State Governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, has said the state government will soon begin the reconstruction of Kaiama-Kishi Road at a contract sum of N8bn and Ilesha-Baruba/Gwanara Road awarded at N6bn.
He stated that the state government was committed to improving the condition of roads including the federal roads in the state.
He spoke during the state government’s monthly public enlightenment programme tagged, “The Governor Explains.’
Ahmed said, “We have not reneged on our responsibility to ensure that the roads will be done. The state government will continue to embark on road rehabilitation. By God’s grace, the next few weeks, once the rains subside, I am going to flag off the Kaiama-Kishi Road, and the Ilesha-Baruba Road. These are all federal roads that we want to flag off for proper rehabilitation and construction.”
The governor pleaded with the Federal Government to reimburse the state government with about N3bn that it spent on the rehabilitation of Kosobuso Road.
He stated that the state government was doing its best to rehabilitate federal roads despite its lean finances.
He therefore urged the Federal Government to encourage it by reimbursing it with funds it spent on federal roads.
Ahmed said the comment credited to the Minister of National Planning, Dr. Abubakar Sulaiman, as blaming the state government for not rehabilitating the Ajase-Ipo-Omu-Aran Road, a federal road, was unfair.
“In the last 10 years, there is no presence of any good road project in Kwara from the Federal Government. Omu-Aran-Offa-Ajase Road is completely bad; the Kaima-Kishi Road is bad; the Ilesha-Baruba Road is bad. As a state, we have a lot of state roads which we have been spending the little we have got on. The ones belonging to the Federal Government have not been done.
“For instance, Oma-Aran Ajase Road is a Federal Government road; it has not been done. Instead of the minister to team up with other ministers at the federal level to put pressure on the Federal Government to come and do its own portion of developmental projects in the state, you are asking the state to come and spend its resources on federal roads.”
