It is so surprising, is it not? How even the worst happenings of the past acquire a sweetness in the memory. Old harsh distresses are now merely pictures and tastes which hurt no more, like itching scars which can only give pleasure now." -Ayi Kwei Armah

What I call The Story of Kwara can be divided into three phases. We have the Foundation years, which were laid by the earliest military commanders given authority to rule the state. Then we have The Interregnum occasioned by a failed attempt by Nigeria to restore civil democracy to the nation. After that we have the New Era, which can be dated from the 1999 General elections that restored civil democracy after years of military dictatorship.

The New Era itself can be stratified into the early days when the state grappled with the reality of civil democracy and its attendant and commonplace power tussles which came from within the rank of the then ruling elite and had the late former governor, Alhaji Mohammed Lawal as arrowhead. It was a period of trying to understand the games of democracy and once the lessons were learnt, a new phase built on the political philosophy of the late Dr.Olusola Saraki, arguably the greatest politician that has ever walked the streets of Kwara, emerged.

That new phase was led by Saraki’s scion, Dr. Bukola, a medical doctor who had abandoned the stethoscope for the damp suits of banking halls and would later abandon the suits for the flowing gowns of politics. Bukola became governor in 2003 and when he left the office in 2011, he handed the reins to Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, another banker who had also embraced the popularity-dependent path of politics when he came to work under Saraki as Commissioner.

If the Foundation Years laid the foundation, as its appellation implies, for the emergence of Kwara as a slate of note in the nation, with its popular Kwara Stadium, Midland stores, Taiwo road, old Yidi road among other infrastructural development, the second phase of the New Era contributed, and as at this time is still contributing, to the real development the state needs to march with its peers without bowing its head in shame.

And in no way can Kwara be ashamed today. When Saraki came on board, Kwara was in virtual deficit, in terms of infrastructure and a development agenda. All major commercial entities that used to give the state a big name had gone under. It was not the fault of the Lawal administration; he met them that way. The collapse of the industries was as a result of the collapse of the Nigerian economy under the military when Nigeria was isolated globally and doing business was like drawing blood from the veins. Tate and Lyle, Nigeria Matches Company, Midland stores had gone under. Kwara Furniture had collapsed. Jebba Paper Mills had died. Bacita Sugar Company and Nigeria Yeast and Alcohol Company had become ghosts.

With virtually no natural resources commanding economic advantage yet, any government in the state would need to think out of the box to fix things and reposition the state again. And that was what the Bukola Saraki years represented in the history of Kwara. For instance, realising that the only natural resource the state can fall upon easily to attract investment is land; he invited the now popular White Zimbabwean farmers into the state and gave them land to farm.

Sometimes when an average Nigerian talks of farm the first impression on the mind is a small space of land when a man tills from morning till noon and at the end of the year gets some little products that can merely pay the schools fees of his kids. But when you take a walk through the 'farm town' at Shonga, you will understand the foresight of the government in taking such a huge step which has not only transformed the lives of farmers in its environs but has been contributing immensely to the agricultural sector in Nigeria.

Again, to augment for the lack of natural resources that can be immediately tapped for economic advantage, Saraki took the bold step of building the Cargo Airport; a project envisioned to transform Kwara into a hub for cargo movement around the northern part of Nigeria and beyond. But for reasons that were political, the project was stalled after the state had invested billions of naira.

If it had been commissioned as envisaged, it would have created a multiplier benefit for the state economy as freight forwarders and other stakeholders in the sub sector position themselves for business in the state. Thank God that the Buhari administration has promised to review the project and intervene as appropriate.

Again, the government also worked with the federal government to revive Jebba Paper Mills. The engines are almost roaring at the facility again, even if the noise is not as high as it was before because of the strategic decisions of the investors who bought the dead plant. In the same way, the government worked with the federal government to revive the Bacita Sugar Company and succeeded in doing so until the death of the major investor halted the development plan mapped out for that project.

What of Kwarra State University (KWASU) which in less than a decade has attracted international academics including Nigeria’s own Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka? That institution has become a source of succour for many Kwarans who hitherto would have spent years before gaining admission into federal universities.

What of the Vocational Training Institute at Ajase Ipo which when completed would extend the abilities of Kwara to further sell its human resources to international market just as is being done by Kwara Football Academy which is also a product of the New Era phase? Six general hospitals have been upgraded across the three senatorial districts, a number of rural roads and water projects too numerous to mention, completed. School of Engineering at the Kwara State University was also constructed as part of the ongoing efforts to transform the state.

All of these have been achieved despite the lean resources available to the state. My focus in this intervention is to point out, like Ayi Kwei Armah did, that given the current challenges facing the state as a result, again of a national problem, some may be tempted to say that the worst years were better than the present years. It will be a fallacy. And a dangerous one at that.

The ingenuity and resourcefulness of the current administration to meet its obligations to workers are legendary given the economic downturn foisted on the nation by maladministration of the immediate past federal administration. While the government is highly sympathetic to the hardship experienced by local government workers and Agencies and parastatals in the state as a result of salaries arrears, it is merely a passing phase to our economic independence. Let us all rise to work and pray for a better tomorrow.

*Oba can be reached at abdulwahab@gmail.com