Date: 2017-09-05

The Kwara State Governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed has commended the Federal Government on its renewed efforts on agriculture aimed at repositioning the nation's economy for sustainable development.

The governor gave the commendation on Sunday in Ilorin when the Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu Gambari paid him Sallah homage. Ahmed described the agricultural programme of the Federal Government as a focal point for diversification of the Nigerian economy.

The governor, who noted that the youths in the state have embraced agriculture, said the state had since commenced sustainable agricultural programme under the Off-Taker Demand Driven Scheme. He said that this was to translate agriculture into wealth creation for the teeming youths.

Gov. Ahmed urged Local Government Transition Implementation Committees (TIC) in the state and the in-coming local government authorities to embrace agriculture as a major economic activity for driving the economic affairs of their areas. According to him, reliance on federation allocation and 10 per cent of state IGR was no longer enough to support activities in the councils.

Ahmed challenged the local government councils, especially those in urban areas, to take advantage of their environment to improve their IGR in order to be able to pay the salaries of their workers and meet other necessary obligations. "Our administration will continue to service its people in terms of Human Capital Development and provision of sustainable Infrastructure across the state.

"The road construction programme will resume immediately after the rainy season", Gov. Ahmed said. Earlier, the Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Ibrahim Gambari commended the governor for the development across the state. The emir advised the people of the state to live in peace and harmony, love and tolerate one another.