Date: 2015-10-07

ADDRESS BY HIS EXCELLENCY, ALHAJI (DR) ABDULFATAH AHMED, THE EXECUTIVE GOVERNOR OF KWARA STATE ON THE OCCASION OF THE SWEARING-IN OF THE SECRETARY TO THE GOVERNMENT OF KWARA STATE, CHIEF OF STAFF, HEAD OF SERVICE AND SPECIAL ADVISERS, ON WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2015

Courtesies,

Today’s ceremony represents a major step by our administration towards strengthening the processes of governance. As you will recall, the Secretary to the Government of Kwara State, Chief of Staff and Head of Service were appointed soon after our inauguration on May 29th, 2015.

Our decision in this regard was informed by the significance and linkages among these offices and in view of the economic situation in the country which required phased appointments.

Let me thank and congratulate Alhaji Mohammed Toyin Sanusi and Alhaji Dabarako Mohammed, the immediate past Chief of Staff, Government House and Head of Service of Kwara State respectively, for their meaningful contributions to our Administration.

I wish the former Chief of Staff success in his future endeavor and the former Head of Service blissful retirement.

I must also congratulate the new appointees and members of their family for the well-deserved appointments. By these appointments, the Government and people of Kwara State have expressed confidence in you.

Similarly, the oaths you have just taken impose enormous responsibilities on you. I expect you to justify your appointments by contributing diligently to the realization of this administration’s lofty aspiration for the state.

Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, your appointments were made in an atmosphere of economic challenge and our citizens’ increasing expectation of government. On our part, we have a covenant to fulfil, a people to empower and a state to elevate.

By now, you should be familiar with this administration’s policy priority as enshrined in our Shared Prosperity Program and as articulated in my second inaugural address.

This administration is in a hurry. We are keen to fulfil our mandate in the shortest possible time. I, therefore, expect you to hit the ground-running. You must quickly key-into and add value to the administration or give way to those who can.

You must bring a sense of urgency to your new assignment. In doing that, I do not expect you to think outside the box. On the contrary, I expect you to throw the box away and fashion out innovative ways to actualize our development agenda for this state and our people.

The truth is governance is no longer business as usual. More than ever before, success is mandatory. Non-performance is NOT AN OPTION.

I urge you to apply best practices in all aspects of governance. Similarly, you must make prudence, accountability, transparency and above all, the fear of God your watchwords.

You must also exhibit fairness, equity and justice in all your dealings. It is my expectation that you will be good ambassadors of this Administration and avoid any conduct capable of bringing the our government and indeed Kwara State into disrepute.

Let me specifically challenge the new Head of Service to sensitize Civil Servants to the ethics of the service and encourage them to imbibe the spirit of excellent performance in their assignments.

You should similarly identify the hidden talents who can catapult the service to the next level. Furthermore, I implore you to ensure their effective deployment and positive engagement to add value to this Administration.

I can not end this speech without thanking our people for their understanding, particularly on the issue of salary delays, which was as a result of a national financial crisis occasioned by the drop in oil revenue.

However, we are determined to stem this tide, and to make it a thing of the past. This, we believe, is achievable, with the establishment of the Kwara State Internal Revenue Service, KWIRS, which has been mandated by my administration to increase significantly our Internally Generated Revenue, IGR.

As our IGR improves, we will be able to further meet our obligations to the people, put food on their table, and make Kwara a better place to live in.

Furthermore, it will position our State for more investments, that will insulate our economy from the vagaries of oil revenues.

As we commence work in earnest, I admonish the good people of Kwara State to pray for these appointees and the Government.

I, once more, congratulate the new appointees. I wish you the very best as you join us to steer the ship of this State of Harmony to a successful harbor.

Thank you all and God bless.