Date: 2017-09-08

The Kwara State Governor, Abdul Ahmed, has been scored low by critics, who allege that the governor has made no impact on the lives of the people.

The critics are the Director-General, National Broadcasting Commission, Mr Moddibo Kawu; a former chairman of the Federal Character Commission, Prof. Shuaib Oba; and the convener, Kwara Development Initiative, Mr Abdulmumin Ajia.

While Kawu spoke during a lecture he delivered on 'Our community, our values and our future,' Oba and Ajia spoke in separate interviews with The Punch correspondent on Thursday on the sidelines of Ajia's empowerment programme for small and medium entrepreneurs in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.

Kawu said, "Economic opportunities have been denied our people, especially since 2003. From 2003 till the end of 2015, Kwara State got about N640bn from the federation account. Yet in that period, poverty has increased in our community, open and clandestine prostitution, drug abuse and consolidation of the begging culture.

Ajia alleged that the Saraki and Ahmed administrations had not lived up to expectations.

He said, "In the past 14 years, we have witnessed two successive administrations that were ushered in with a lot of hope and they have let the people down. They will tell you that the problem is paucity of funds but I disagree. The issue is paucity of ideas because even with little you can do much if you are committed to serving the people first."

Oba said the state had been subjected to hardship by people by the leaders.

"What we have were inflicted by people who say they are professional politicians. We should in our own way rise up at the appropriate time, challenge and force them out," he said.

But Ahmed through his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Communication, Dr Muyideen Akorede, said that contrary to the allegations, Kwara State had recorded developments.

"We have remodeled the Ilorin Township Stadium into one of the best in the North Central and established an internationally-referenced vocational centre. Kwara State also has one of the most vibrant informal sectors with the injection of billions of naira into micro credit and the government has been acknowledged for upholding rule of law consistently.

"Their criticism is more political than logical, given the unexplained decision to limit their subjective analysis to the last 14 years."