The Ilorin Emirate Descendants Progressive Union (IEDPU) has called on the federal government to expedite action on the take-off of the newly approved Federal College of Education, Afon, Kwara State.

The federal teacher’s training institution is located in Afon, the headquarters of Asa local government, one of the five local government areas that make up Ilorin Emirate in the State.

The union made the call in a communique issued at the end of its 57th annual national conference held in Ilorin and Bode-Saadu in Moro local government area between December 25 and 26, 2022.

The communique was signed by the chairman and secretary of the communique drafting committee, Shuaib Dagbo and Dr Muhammad AbdulRahman, respectively.

The IEDPU, however, commended the federal government on the establishment of Federal Neuro-psychiatric Hospital, Budo-Egba, also in Asa local government area of the State.

On the 2023 general election, the union while reiterating its nonpartisanship stance, called for violence-free elections and urged politicians and their supporters to sustain unity and peaceful coexistence that have been the heritage of Ilorin Emirate.

It charged the indigenes of the Emirate not to allow politics to divide them and truncate the harmonious peaceful atmosphere in their domains.

On the challenge of insecurity facing the nation, the union called on both the state and the federal governments to be more proactive, noting that the challenges have become a threat to the unity of the nation.

“The union emphasises the need for government at all levels to look into the high rate of unemployment which has been on the increasing level and breeding criminalities in the society. It also calls for an enabling environment for the survival of farmers and improvement of entrepreneurship in order to boost economy of the state and invest in the youth.

“In this regard, industrialization of the state with possibility of looking at the area of agriculture and other ways of creating job opportunities for the indigenes and people of the state in general was emphasized, with the view to drawing attention of the youth away from thuggery, cybercrime, cultism and other forms of social vices.

“The union decries the high cost of food items and other goods and commodities,epileptic power supply, poor standard of the health sector, incessant strike in federal universities and the unfriendly price of fuel.

“The union, therefore, appeals to government to put in place, policies that will cushion the effects of economic hardship facing the nation in all ramifications,” the communique stated.