A United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) representative in Ghana, Professor Kamil Kayode Kamaldeen, has said there were indicators that Kwara State is on the track towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set by the United Nations.

The indicators, according to him, were a direct result of eight years investment on critical sectors by the administration of Bukola Saraki.

Kamaldeen who stated this in Ilorin yesterday while speaking with journalists said, “If the present administration builds on the legacies left by the last one, the state will be better for it and would be on the path to achieving MDG targets of curbing infant/maternal mortality, hunger, among others.”

He said it was high time Nigerians shoved aside lackadaisical attitude and devise ideas that could turn around their lives for better, adding that remarkable efforts were being made to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

“We are the United Nations agency that has development as its core mandate, we have to strengthen capacity and we continue to monitor progress. We are the core keepers of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and we are happy to see that Nigeria and particularly Kwara State is already making progress on some of these indicators. There are still challenges but I do think that from what we have, if we build on the legacies of the past eight years and follow through what the Kwaran government is doing, then the system will thrive. We are already doing well on poverty. We are doing well on partnership. We are doing well on enrolment. But one thing I need to add is beyond enrolment, we also have to pay attention to quality and I do think that if we focus on human development and we take that as part, as core to education, then we will be able to get the quality that we desire.

“What is important is that education should build skills, it should build life skills, we should ensure that we do not produce students who do not have a place in the market. We want to have students that have skills, that can be marketed, that are ready for the private sector”.

“We really have to do something about the curriculum. We have to re-invent our educational system. We have to re-invent our university. We have to re-invent our polytechnic. Polytechnic should not teach English. Polytechnics are supposed to develop skills in science and technology,” he said.