Kwara Gov approves N200m grant for 4,000 artisans

• 14,126 apply for Kwapreneur 3.0: KWASSIP boss

• Says grant is one-off

Kwara State AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq has approved the grant empowerment for 4,000 artisans in the state with the sum of N50,000 each, KWASSIP chief announced.

“I equally want to use this medium to announce to the members of the public and mainly the artisans in Kwara State that His Excellency Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, has approved the grant empowerment for 4,000 artisans in the state with the sum of N50,000 each,” Acting General Manager Kwara State Social Investment Programme (KWASSIP) AbdulQuawiy Olododo announced on Monday during a press briefing in Ilorin.

“A portal will be launched today in this regard after this press conference for the members of the artisans to apply for this grant. I must also state that part of the criteria which the artisans will have to fulfill is the uploading of their 2022 tax clearance from KWIRS and evidence of membership that they belong to recognised artisan association in the State.

Olododo said the portal will be opened until the 21st of November, 2022, urging artisans in the state to take the advantage of the opportunity to enhance their economic activities.

Speaking on KWAPRENEUR 3.0, KWASSIP boss disclosed that over 15,708 applications were received, out of which 1,582 were found to be multiple entries, bringing the actual applications to 14,126, which cut across all the 16 Local Governments in Kwara State.

“Breakdown of the 14,126 applications are as follows: 4,052: agribusinesses (farming, foodstuffs, productions, and agro machineries); 1,582 – Artisans; 2,750 – Products, provisions, etc; 240 – transport services; 432 – Clothing wears and Fabrics; 620 – Telco services (POS, Phones accessories); 4,450 – Other categories,” he explained.

“KWAPRENEUR 3.0 called for application, which was concluded in September. Applicants ranged from varieties of Professions such as Fashion Designing, Small Scale Provision Business, Agriculture, transportation services, and a lot more.

He said successful applicants will from this week begin to receive calls and messages to inform them to come and defend their business plans before KWASSIP team of judges to determine the beneficiaries of the Kwapreneur 3.0.

“The KWAPRENEUR is a programme aimed at supporting young entrepreneurs in the State to get access to funding and training to kick-start their businesses and also expand existing ones in order to see that Kwara State fully becomes a business-driven economy,” he explained.

Olododo also clarified that the N20,000 grant tagged ‘owo isowo’ for women petty traders is a one-off support for petty traders.

“It has equally been brought to the attention of this Office that some people are claiming that the beneficiaries of the N20,000 support of owo isowo (women petty traders) across the state will be collecting the money each month for 6 months. This is not correct. We want the members of the general public to please disregard this information as it is not true. There was never a time when such information was stated or reported from this office. The grant is a one-off support for petty traders,” he added.

Olododo appealed to members of the public to continue to support the programme and the administration of Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq which continues to show concern for the welfare of every member of the society, including the downtrodden and the elderly.

1. At least N11.9bn of public funds were carted away from the treasury of Kwara State between 2011 and 2019 without any lawful tie to any project or programme, a forensic audit report has revealed, amid other mind-boggling revelations of alleged malfeasance within the period.

The audit also showed that N2bn cash withdrawals not tied to any project or official expenditure were made within eight days in February 2019, barely one month to the general election.

Speaking during the submission of the report to Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq on Thursday, Partner at the SSAC and Professionals Anthony Iniomoh said the report is in two volumes covering Internally Generated Revenue;Capital Receipts; Internal and External Loans; Recurrent / Overhead Expenditure; Personnel Cost (Salaries and Wages); Capital Expenditure; Assets Disposed; Kwara State Internal Revenue Service; Infrastructural Fund Kwara (IFK); Harmony Holdings Limited; amongst others.

“A few highlights of our findings may be necessary for the record. Our forensic audit revealed a colossal pilfering of N11, 981,268,709 which we recommended should be recovered to the public coffers. Similarly, we recommended to the state government to prosecute certain officers and companies in addition to claiming exemplary damages on transactions totalling N6,023,358,444, amongst other key findings,” Inumoh said at the presentation of the report.

“This is especially so in the cases of firms that we observed were paid huge public funds without any evidence of work done on record. In one instance, records show that a firm that was incorporated at the Corporate Affairs Commission on 14th June, 2016 was paid by the state government for a contract it purportedly executed for the state in April of the same year. It became apparent that this was a preconceived attempt to defraud the state.

“There was an instance of public officer getting paid at two different places for years, which is a clear breach of the law. Other infractions arising as a result of obvious conflict of interest and violation of due process were also spotlighted for the government to draw up new policy instruments to prevent such in the future.

“There was also a cash withdrawal within 8 days of N2.06 billion in February 2019 which was of interest to the audit. However, no documentation was made available to validate the purpose for which the money was withdrawn. There were also several other cash withdrawals within the state over the period running into billions of Naira which we could not validate.

“These and others have been recommended to be referred to an Administrative Panel of Enquiry. Furthermore, the audit revealed that loans were obtained by the Kwara State Government within the period under review.

“The elements of these loans could not be validated. Above all, the bank accounts to which these loans were disbursed to and what the loans were used for could not be established or validated.”

The report suggested to the government to prosecute some individuals and firms indicted in the two volume report, while other issues are to be referred to administrative panel of inquiry for some individuals to explain their roles in the many  infractions.

Governor AbdulRazaq, for his part, said the revelations were truly disturbing but hardly surprising, given the patterns of events in those years.

“We thank you for the robust work. It confirms what we have been saying all along,” he added.

“We also saw that it has taken a bit of time and I know that there were certain deliberate efforts to obstruct your work. That was why it has taken some time because you have made certain complaints about that and we tried to push those that were supposed to open the doors to make the doors easy for you.

“Your report, like others, will help us to steadily put the state in the right direction to deepen transparency and accountability. We will go through the report fully and look into your recommendations.

“With few things you said know, it is mind-boggling especially withdrawing cash of over N2bn a month to the election and all sorts of infractions that took place. Certainly, we shall progress from here and do the needful.”

The event was attended by the Secretary to the State Governor Prof. Mamma Saba Jubril; Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice Senior Ibrahim Suleiman; Commissioner for Finance Florence Olasumbo Oyeyemi; Accountant General of the State AbdulGaniyu Sani; Permanent Secretary Ministry of Finance Abdulrazaq Folorunsho.

Other members of the audit firm are Tijani Dako and Bamidele Sobiye.

Rafiu Ajakaye

Chief Press Secretary to the Governor

September 1, 2022

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara State has advised the embattled PDP leader in the state, Dr. Abubarkar Bukola Saraki to refrain from encouraging propaganda and baseless criticisms in his attempt to de-market the ruling government of Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq.

In a statement issued by the party, it stated that the unguarded utterances of the former Senate President during his reception for some former APC Facebook jobbers was politically disparaging.

“It is rather too late for him to correct the mistakes of 16years few months to another election by running from pillar to post dishing out monies and making empty promises to the same people they have tormented for so long.

“Encouraging propaganda clearly shows that the PDP is not grounded in politics of opposition and are confused on how to engage the ruling APC on governance.

“We advise the PDP and its leaders to engage in responsive criticism and comparative engagement on governance.

“It is very unfortunate that the PDP is still living in the illusion that it lost out in governance based on propaganda rather than poor governance, incompetence, mismanagement and slavery of the people, which resorted in the mass revolt, termed ‘ Otoge,’ enough is enough,” the party said.

Signed,
Alhaj Tajudeeen Folaranmi Aro
State Publicity Secretary
Kwara APC
Ilorin.

The Kwara State Peoples Democratic Party, in another faux pas as claimed that it received 10,000 political decampees from the ruling APC when it actually had 10 Facebook jobbers joining it’s drowning ship.

Confused and bereft of ideas on how to woo new members to its fold following its continued rejection by the people of Kwara State, the PDP, in a failed media blitz paraded 15 facebook followers and tagged them “10,000 decampees” in the house of their leader Bukola Saraki in Ilorin at the weekend.

While we sympathize with the “Bolekaja” PDP and it’s leader for another failed mission aimed at white washing the badly damaged image of the rejected party, we challenge the PDP to publish the names of the 10,000 APC decampees who were received by its leader at his residence.

We restate that no amount of propaganda can launder the image of a party that recklessly plundered the resources of the State which led to the collapse of critical infrastructure such as education, health and roads .

Kwara now know the difference between looters of yesteryears and our exemplary Governor whose focus is to make Kwara an Investment destination in Nigeria.
They have resolved to re-elect Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq who is working to improve their lives and their children.

With the giant strides of Governor AbdulRazaq, they have discovered that PDP is a pestilence. May it never happen again in Kwara

Signed:
Alhaji Tajudeen Folaranmi Aro
Publicity Secretary,
Kwara All Progressives Congress

The Kwara State Government has settled the ₦22.5Million outstanding Licence Fee to the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) which accumulated since 2006.

The state governor, Mallam Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, gave the approval for the immediate payment of the ₦22.5m to the Commission.

The state Commissioner for Communications, Hon. Olabode George Towoju, in a statement issued today in Ilorin, stated that the state government had paid ₦10m out of the initial ₦32.5m debt since September last year.

According to Towoju, “Kwara state is blessed with a responsible and highly responsive governor. This debt was passed down from the previous administrations in the state since 2006.

“As someone who puts Kwara first, the governor is committed to meeting people’s expectations and exceeding such, and this can also be likened to the way he promptly paid off the UBEC counterpart fund that the administration before him did not deem fit to do.

“Undoubtedly, Kwara is indeed blessed with a good governor. No wonder he has been named the “Exceptional Governor,” he added.

The Commissioner submitted that “the way Mallam Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq has been releasing funds to various sectors of the state to ensure a smooth running of the system is highly commendable.

“He believes in results and as a “no excuse” man, once the funds are released, there is no excuse for you not to deliver.

“Recently, he released funds for the accreditation of courses in state-owned institutions because of his commitment to the education sector and not only that, our health system has never had it this good.

“See the construction of roads ongoing almost everywhere and the projects being embarked upon in the state.” Towoju submitted.

The Commissioner urged Kwarans to rest assured that the administration is committed to ensuring that the state remains a “moving and progressive state” and called on the people of the state to “put Kwara first” in all their dealings.

Ayobami Ashaolu,

Press Secretary,

Ministry of Communications.

24/08/2022.

The Protest by some Police Constabularies in a mischievous video at the Weekend over an alleged non-payment of their Salaries by the Kwara State Government is to say the least a very cheap attempt to blackmail Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq.

It is important to clarify that these men registered about 15 months ago as are volunteer constabulary similar to the volunteer Special Road Marshals of the Federal Roads Safety Corps. The volunteer constabulary are to compliment and support Community Policing efforts of the Nigeria Police by monitoring their local communities for intelligence gathering.

Constabularies are not prevented from having their regular jobs hence they are not on Salaries like the men of the regular Nigeria Police Force. These conditions were made known to them at the point of their registration In the words of the Kwara State Police Commissioner, Mr. Tuesday Assayomo: “It is important to state that the concept of community policing and recruitment of special constabularies is voluntary in nature, meaning they are not on monthly renumeration like the conventional policemen. This much the constabularies were briefed before taken up the job, besides, the job is not full time job”.

It is important to state that prior to the protest by the Police Constabularies, officials of the State Government had met with them on how the state government can assist those qualify for employment into regular police whenever there is a recruitment exercise by the Nigeria Police Force.

The officials also advised those who are no longer interested in volunteering to disengage from the service.

It is therefore appalling to read negative comments against the State Government and the thoughtless statement of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party demanding payment of Salaries of the Police Constabularies.

This is a party that could not pay 18,000 Naira minimum wage while in power and failed to pay Salaries of Civil Servants for up to two years and when they eventually paid, they paid in bits known in local parlance as Geri-Gedi.

The shameful desperation of PDP to return to power by inciting the public against genuine and successful State Govt initiatives to maintain peace and security in the state is condemnable.

Kwarans who appreciate the Good works of Governor AbdulRazaq are enjoined to ignore the lies and Propaganda of enemies of the state and the PDP who dabble into every issue in their attempt to return to power and continue the looting of our common patrimony.

Signed:

Alhaji Folaranmi Aro

Kwara State APC Publicity Secretary

The New Media team of the All Progressives Congress Kwara State Chapter (Kwara APC New Media) has said the performance of the Executive Governor of Kwara State, Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq is expected following his success record in private sector and passion for community development.

The commendation was as a result of several social investment programmes focused on creating employment through entrepreneurship and creating conducive environment for businesses to strive.

To ensure that indigents women in the state improve their living, the Governor on Wednesday approved N20, 000 for 30,000 female petty traders to lift them out of poverty which they would get for 6months.

In a similar event that shows government under Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq has done so well in the business sector of the state, on Thursday, the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria said the local economy has recorded huge successes over the last three years under the administration of Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq. The numbers of active companies in Kwara state grew from 41 in 2019 to 77 in 2022.

On another significant occasion, the Government also empowered 100 youths with ₦1 million each in commemoration of

International Youth Day to grow the entrepreneurship sector.

Few weeks ago, the government facilitated 100 mini buses to empower commercial transportation sector in the state.

“Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq has tremendously performed beyond expectations in all sectors such as infrastructure development, civil servants’ welfare, employment, healthcare, environment, and social investment programmes”

“We are confident in the administration of Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq and we urge Kwarans to re-elect him as the governor for another four years”

“We also commend the General Manager, Kwara State Social Investment programme (KWASSIP), Mallam AbdulQuawiy Olododo for transparency and ensuring the empowerment touched every local government”.

Soliu O. Yusuf

Deputy Director-General

Kwara APC New Media

Kwara State Executive Council has approved a programme to empower at least 30,000 female petty traders with a grant of N20,000 each over the next six months — a social investment measure modelled after a World Bank initiative.

In a presentation to the council on Wednesday, Secretary to the Kwara State Government Prof. Mamman Saba Jubril said the programme would be implemented under the Kwara State Social Investment Programme while beneficiaries would cut across the 16 local government areas of the state.

“For stimulation of micro, small and medium scale locally-owned businesses, the agency (KWASSIP) deems it necessary to empower the women within the 16 LGAs of Kwara State. This is another dimension towards ensuring that the women who ordinarily do not have access to financial facility are availed with financial support through the programme,” according to Jubril.

“It may interest council to note that this programme being domesticated and to be funded by the State Government is a replica of the World Bank project (Nigeria for Women Project). However, the state has applied to the World Bank to include Kwara State among the beneficiary states in Nigeria in order to complement the efforts of the state government.”

For efficiency, transparency and easy disbursement to all the 193 wards in the state, Jubril said the government will partner with MTN Nigeria (Mobile Money, MoMo) Service provider which has over 5000 payment agents.

He said the programme will gulp N658m with huge benefits on the microeconomic sector in the state.

Council members took turns to commend the initiative which they said would help to grow small businesses and tackle extreme poverty.

The council meeting was chaired by Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq who said the administration remains committed to the plight of the downtrodden, including deepening financial inclusion.

KWASSIP, the implementing agency, has carried out similar social safety programme, including Owo Isowo, Owo Arugbo, and Kwapreneur which have benefitted over 100,000 people in the last two years alone.

A recent social impact assessment report on KWASSIP showed no less than 90% of the beneficiaries affirming the programme to be of huge impacts to them, according to Social Innovation and Research Institute and Northeast Humanitarian Innovation Hub.

A military research group had earlier in March, 2022 made similar conclusions on the state’s social safety programme, saying the KWASSIP could lift at least 50,000 people out of extreme poverty within the next five years.

Olabode Towoju
Hon. Commissioner for Communications
August 10, 2022

The Kwara State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, has disclaimed responsibility for any unauthorized car plate numbers with the inscriptions APC and or AA.

The party on Thursday issued the disclaimer after receiving intelligence reports of unauthorized car plate numbers with inscription of APC,AA, All Progressives Congress and/ the logo of the party by criminally minded opposition groups with the intent to mislead the public and give the friendly ruling party a bad name.

While condemning the act, the Kwara State Chapter of the APC reiterated that it would not be liable for any negative consequence and/or damage that might arise from any service, product or anything that such vehicle bearing the unauthorized plate numbers.

” Henceforth, we reiterate unequivocally that the party shall not be liable for such actions by unscrupulous individuals or opposition entities that may want to give a dog a bad name in order to hang it ,” the party said.”

Alhaji Tajudeeen Folaranmi Aro
State Publicity Secretary
Kwara APC
Ilorin, Kwara State.

Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq on Thursday flagged off the state’s Community Health Influencers, Promoters and Services (CHIPS) programme to strengthen access to primary healthcare in the state.

“Part of the efforts at revitalising the system is demand generation for the services available within the Primary HealthCare Facilities. The careful selection and training of these 200 CHIPS and 40 Community Engagement Focal Persons will go a long way in deepening quality healthcare delivery to the remotest corners of the State,” AbdulRazaq said at the event held at the State’s Banquet Hall in Ilorin.

“As a government, we are making deliberate efforts to ensure that our Primary HealthCare facilities are able to perform their roles in meeting the healthcare demands of their immediate communities. To achieve this, we have embarked on massive rehabilitation and upgrade of Primary Healthcare facilities, including construction of new ones where necessary.

“We have also embarked on massive recruitments of qualified hands and trained existing ones to manage our various health facilities across the state.”

The governor said his administration has also commenced the payment of minimum wage to various categories of workers, including health workers in the state.

“On inception of office, we paid a huge backlog of counterpart funds. We have also been able to sustain this,” he added.

“We set up a vibrant State Task force on Immunisation and PHC chaired by His Excellency, the Deputy Governor of Kwara State. The outcomes of these steps are reflecting in our health indices.”

AbdulRazaq also commended the health team in the sector, including the State Primary Health Care Development Agency led by Dr Nusirat Elelu, for their good job.

Commissioner for Health Dr Raji Rasaq, for his health, explained that CHIPS programme is a great achievement and big step in establishing sustainable structures in consonance with the national health care policy direction and the policy thrust of this administration.

“The goal of CHIPs is to expand access to the underserved populations and work towards raising awareness and stimulating demand for primary health care services by the community. The role of community-based health workers residing in the community in attaining this cannot be over emphasised,” he said.

“Today, we shall therefore be joining other states in the country where a comprehensive link has been established between the primary health and various health programmes to leverage existing structures toward implementation of critical interventions for the attainment of common goals and objectives.”

Rasaq said the community workers would provide basic services in their respective communities, ultimately linking the communities with services in primary health care facilities.

The flag-off was attended by top government officials and critical partners in the health sector, including Deputy Governor Kayode Alabi, traditional rulers, development partners, as well as health workers.

Executive Secretary of Kwara State Primary Healthcare Development Agency Dr Nusirat Elelu said the state is trying to re-imagine Primary Healthcare to a fit-for purpose PHC as envisioned by Governor AbdulRazaq who has shown unprecedented commitment and leadership in revamping the PHC system in the state.

“Everyday Nigeria loses about 2,300 under-five children. Community-based programme is the most effective option to reduce mortality and the least expensive presently available,” she said.

“One of the community based interventions is the CHIPS with the goal of contributing to maternal and child morbidity and mortality by creating demands for and equitably increasing access to essential primary health care services.”

Representatives of WHO, UNICEF, AFENET, Rotary International and other development partners commended AbdulRazaq administration for the huge investment in the health sector which have brought positive indices to the sector within the last three years.

To State Coordinator World Health Organisation Saliu Abdullahi: “We at WHO are very much aware of your laudable programmes to the people of Kwara State especially in the area of disease prevention and outbreak responses. We are equally aware of giant strides your government has made by improving the state health indices from where it was to the current state by making available the needed resources.

“We are aware that your government has renovated more than 100 health facilities and you have also employed more than 200 health workers.”

Representative of UNICEF Mobolaji Abdulkadir said: “UNICEF supports the state in the area of vaccine logistics and special mobilisation to make sure that none of our children come down with vaccine derivable diseases. I want to assure you of UNICEF’s continued support to Kwara State.”

Rafiu Ajakaye
Chief Press Secretary to the Governor
July 28, 2022