BEING A TEXT OF SPEECH DELIVERED BY KWARA STATE ALL PROGRESSIVE CONGRESS (APC) CHAIRMAN, PRINCE SUNDAY FAGBEMI AT THE INAUGURATION OF STATE EXECUTIVE OF THE PARTY, IN ILORIN,

KWARA STATE

1. Courtesies....

2. The Stakeholders of Conscience started the struggle to Kwara liberation over 20 years ago to liberate Kwara from the shackle of godfatherism.

In the process of achieving the success we are currently enjoying today, some of us fought and reconciled, while others reconciled and fought again. Some of us parted ways based on principle, interest and disagreements, while others bridged gaps and form stronger bonds. We have cried and laughed together on different occasions and we continue to push forward. One thing I have learnt in our journey to liberation is that, the journey of this nature, involving huge numbers of people and managing diverse interest and expectations, patience is an inevitable ingredient.

3. Life is not static, we will disagree and agree, fight and mend fences, sometimes spit in our respective faces, then help each other clean it up again. That is the nature of human interactions and we went through all these processes before God finally crowned our efforts through our great party, the All Progressive Congress (APC) in 2019.

4. The destiny of Kwara State was entrusted to us by the people of Kwara State, under the able leadership of our progressive governor, Mallam Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq and since 2019, when our dynamic leader, Governor took over the mantle of leadership, he has hit the ground running and instantly embarked on numerous intervention programs to rescue different sectors of our state from the verge of collapse.

5. Ladies and gentlemen, let me say that, in the last twenty (20) years since i have been an associate of Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, I understand that the governor has always returns good gestures in like terms. It may require a little bit of time to balance the equation, but certainly, all those who have legitimate complain will be listened to and their concerns will be addressed.

6. Today, it is less than 3 years since Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq took over government, but all the 16 Local Government Areas of Kwara State has not remained the same, in almost all sectors.

7. In the education sector, while the past government literally killed our education sector, the government of Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq is currently rehabilitating 600 schools, in addition to the 37 schools already renovated. The state government has also conducted the most transparent teachers recruitment exercise in the history of the state, in which only merit is the determining factor in selection process;unlike the status quo (who you know) which is the hallmark of the past administration.

Our aim as a party, is to support government to restore the standard of public

education and return the state to its glorious days as the best destination for

quality education in Nigeria.

8. In furtherance of this objective, logs of outstanding promotion of our Teaching Service Commission staff as well as SUBEB counterpart have been recently cleared.

10. For the first time since its founding in 1967, Kwara can boast of a general hospital that is worth that name in facilities and in accreditations. Until now, the premier general hospital had no functional intensive care unit (ICU) facility. No state hospital had any. Today, the AbdulRazaq administration has delivered a 12-bed ICU that is not just the largest in central Nigeria but is equipped with modern gadgets that include ventilators, patient monitors, defibrillators, syringe pump, suction machines, infusion pumps, and appropriate ICU beds, among other medical tools required to manage patients in critical condition. Similar investments have been made or are in the works in a few other general hospitals, including Offa, Okuta, and Lafiagi.

decided to abandon the project and allow it go to waste, while the people continue to suffer from lack of water. On the verge of the election, we all saw how they suddenly became "Mai ruwa" shamefully transporting water with tanker to their friends and associates. But today, Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq has not only fixed the water challenges in the state capital, the government is always fixing it across the 16 local government areas, all within the space of less than 3 years. What they couldn't do for 16 years, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq has done in less than 3 years. To the best of my knowledge, The Asadam water works, which serves about 95% of Ilorin metropolis is now in good condition, delivering drinkable water to every community and households in the state capital. The gesture is not limited to the central, go to kwara south (Igbaja and Oro-ago water works) and the northern part of the state (kiaima, lafiagi, patigi, Share and Gwanara water works) are all now in good working condition. This is apart from the hundreds of motorized borehole bestowed on various communities across the 16 local governments of kwara state.

15. Ladies and gentlemen, In view of these positive developments, all that is left for us as a party is to put our house in order. Putting our house in order cannot happen without descipline within the party. We will therefore begin by ensuring that there's descipline within the party.

9. In the health sector, covid 19 pandemic showed us how tremendous the administration of Abdulrahman has worked to improve our health system. According to World Health Organization, Nigeria is one of the 4 countries in the world, whose response to COVID-19 was adjudged as the best and most impactful and Kwara State is one of the reasons why Nigeria had such positive rating. According to National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Kwara State is amongst the 4 most active and responsive States in the management and control of COVID 19 in Nigeria. Before Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq came onboard, many are dying across our hospitals due to lack of oxygen. The state oxygen plant had collapsed and abandoned. But the administration had not only fixed the oxygen plant, as a matter of fact, the oxygen plant was part of Kwara's saving grace during covid 19 pandemic, because it supplied regular oxygen to the state, which helped us save many lives.

11.

On road infrastructure, even the blind can see that the administration has been unrelenting. Based on available records, there are over 150 construction and rehabilitation of road projects going on across the 16 local government areas of the state. The administration has paid unprecedented attention on rural and urban roads to reduce travel time, boost productivity, and encourage investments in agriculture. Over 700 kilometres of rural roads and several river crossings linking farming communities are to be fixed under the World Bank/Kwara partnership within the next years made possible with the government's payment of N400m counterpart funds between 2019 and 2020.

12.

The social investment program of the state are even more interesting, especially with the enactment of law by our vibrant state assembly to make it a permanent feature of our state to not only provide welfare support for our people, but to also stimulate the economy. Kwara State Social Investment Programme, initiated by the Governor, is the largest (and, according to the Bank of Industry, the most transparent) safety net by any subnational government in Nigeria today. The four-pronged scheme targets poor and vulnerable elders, petty traders, young people, and school-age children. These are Owo Arugbo (which currently has at least 10,000 elderly beneficiaries); Owo Isowo with no fewer than 21,000 beneficiaries; K-power for youths with over 13,000 trained in digital marketing skills; and Ounje Ofe, free food, designed for schoolchildren..

13. For youths who are concerned about what the future holds for you, you all know that the current administration is not only preparing you for that future, it is giving you the responsibility and empowerment from now. While 70% of appointment made by this administration has been given to youths below the age of 40, numerous empowerment initiatives such as kwaraprenuer, kwarapitch, kwaratech etc have been rolled out to productively engagement the youths in meaningful activities. This is a good development because as elders, right before our very eyes, we can see that our younger ones are indeed ready to take on the world with required skills and mentality.

14. Additionally, if you do not know any sector, in which the administration of Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq has transformed the state. At least, you should be aware of the water sector. Before the Otoge administration, you are all aware of the shameful manner, in which the defeated dynasty deliberately refused to provide water for 16 years. Even though late Governor Lawal had made significant investment to make water available, the Saraki dynasty

16. The party shall also embark on genuine reconciliation to win back our aggrieved members into the party. We shall not relent in our efforts to unite the party and match collectively to 2023, to not only deliver victory for APC across board, but to do so with better margin compared to what we had in 2019.

Finally, I would like to urge all aspirants in the party to embark on their ambition with the sense of decorum and sportsmanship.

The aspirants should have robust engagement with the members of the party in seeking for their support and they should not castigate one and other under the guise of campaign. We are one big family and even if we are competing, we should do it with all sense of responsibility.

Thank you and God bless

APC