According to a statement released this morning and signed by the General Secretary, Abdulgafar Rahman, the Group averred that the State Government the state government should go beyond intentions on developing the state but should embark on projects that will add value to the lives of every Kwaran.

"For sometime now, we have been inundated with information by the State Government about projects it wants to do. However, this does not translate to value as long as it remains on paper.

"While we acknowledge the current recession and it's impact on the state's finances, the state government must wake up to the infrastructure deficit in the State, and rise to the challenge of addressing it."

Furthermore, the group dismissed calls on the State government to spend all the loan refund on clearing salary backlogs, saying that it is not sustainable at this time when every sector of the economy needs reflation.

"There are about 85,000 Civil Servants in the State, with about 25,000 of this figure being Local Government employees, according to Statistics. This is against the Kwara State population of about 2.5Million."

"Why then should the government spend monies meant for all in the State on clearing salary backlogs alone? Are we now saying that Kwara State government is in existence only to pay salaries? We are of the opinion that the balance of the refund should be used to create value in other sectors."

"While we maintain again that we do not trivialise the sufferings of government employees that are being owed, we urge the Kwara State Government to seek other means to settle the backlog without fail".

Mallam Abdulgafar Rahman
General Secretary,
Kwara Transparency and Good Governance Group, KTGG,
Ilorin, Kwara
27th December, 2016.