(Kwara) State Office of the Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project (RAAMP) has been inundated with calls on some claims which we confirmed were made by the State Publicity Secretary of the People's Democratic Party, Olusegun Olusola (Sholyment), on a radio programme on Friday October 27, 2023.

While this Office is apolitical in line with the public service it renders, it is important to state that the claims by Sholyment were false, unguarded, unfortunate, and should be avoided in the future. We contend that not every issue of governance should become a subject of unrestrained political commentary. Also, facts are sacred and should be so respected.

For that reason, we state as follows:

One: Kwara is one of the original 13 states participating in RAAMP 3 in Nigeria. Other participating states are Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Ondo, Ogun, Oyo, Plateau and Sokoto. This number has risen to 20 now.

Two: Another point to note is that while RAAMP 3 predated 2019 when this administration was elected, Kwara qualified to become a participating state only after Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq paid the counterpart funds that admitted the state into the programme. Thus far, Governor Abdulrazaq has paid a whopping sum of N600 million counterpart funds to ensure seamless implementation of RAAMP project in the state. The money was released in 2019, 2020 and in 2021 respectively.

All of us at RAAMP, under the leadership of our acting Project Coordinator, Engr. Dr. Isaac Kolo, and indeed the people of the state, owe a debt of gratitude to the Governor for not letting that opportunity slip by, as it would have had he chosen not to pay it. It is therefore not true that Kwara had qualified for RAAMP before Governor AbdulRazaq came on board.

Three: The project, which was formally declared effective on March 16th, 2021, is a six-year programme. It will rehabilitate 450km Spot Improvement roads, 225km Rehabilitation/Backlog maintenance roads yearly, Construction of 80-100m Cross Drainage and 160 km rural upgrading across the state. Under this same project, some existing markets such as Alapa market, Ajase market and Kaiama will be upgraded to hubs.

Four: While the state has fulfilled all obligations and various processes for implementation have begun, it is important to state that RAAMP is yet to commence any civil work in the state. The one done at Alapa to Arobadi is just a pilot road that would be revisited by the project, and not the state government.

Five: Contrary to some baseless claims of Sholyment, the Governor in a budget speech on Wednesday, December 22, 2021 confirmed to the House of Assembly that $60m has been earmarked by the World Bank for the project which would be spread across the 16 local government areas of the state in phases. All of these are to be done in partnership with the World Bank and other international donor agencies. An important point to note here is that the $60m is not meant for Kwara State alone; it is from the same funds that other participating States will benefit.

Six: It is also important to note that funds emanating from the World Bank are not open to arbitrary spending as Sholyment may assume. Any World Bank partner agency deals with "No Objection" clearance before a dime could be spent from the money released to any of their partnering states. Since no civil work has commenced here in Kwara due to the guidelines being received from the World Bank, every dime connected to RAAMP is still intact. Even the Governor, who has paid the whopping sums of N600 million naira, has no access or any influence on the said amount. This is a fact we can confirm to the general public. As it is, no Civil Work have commenced yet under RAAMP in the state. The $60m, which is to be shared among the 20 RAAMP participating states, will not come to each state at a time. The works will also be done in phases. The next phase of RAAMP 3 in Kwara, according to the timetable agreed with the World Bank, is the advertisement of roads to be done, and we are looking at November for this advertisement, all things being equal.

Seven: Drawing from the above, we caution Sholyment and people like him to show more restraint in their public statements. We advise that he shows finesse, sense of responsibility, and respect for facts in his future public statements, especially now that he speaks in an official capacity for an opposition party. We urge that he avoids the temptation to play politics with important issues that may portray Kwara in a bad light in important circles where facts and due diligence are treated with respect.