Kwara State is the leading State in developmental initiatives for the month of August 2020, according to a magazine published by the Progressives Governors’ Forum.
The PGF is the umbrella body for the governors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress.
The Director General of the PGF Secretariat, Salihu Moh. Lukman, observed in the 50th edition of the Forum’s magazine – The Progressive Strides – that Kwara topped the table of achievements for the month of August 2020.
The Progressive Strides is an initiative of the Forum to give an overview of developmental initiatives from APC States.
Kwara State had 28 strides, which cut across empowerment, health care, infrastructure, security, welfare, power, agriculture, environment, sports, art and culture, capacity building and development as well as justice and sensitisation, the DG said.
Lukman explained that all the APC states featured in the month’s ratings, adding that 30 per cent of the information used came from primary sources and 70 percent from secondary sources.
This rating of Kwara State was due to the unprecedented pace of developmental projects recorded in the State by AbdulRazaq’s administration despite the economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
It will be recalled that since the inception of this administration, Kwara State has come to life with different developmental initiatives being carried out with bludgeoning force.
This declaration is a formal recognition of AbdulRazaq’s giant strides in the State – days after the Ministry of Women Affairs declared Kwara a model state under AbdulRazaq.
Other States recorded the following strides: Kogi, 22; Lagos, 19; Ekiti, Gombe and Nasarawa, 14 each; Kano, 13; Ogun, 11; Borno and Kebbi, 9 each; Imo, Jigawa, Niger and Osun, 7 each; Katsina, 6; Kaduna, 5; and Ondo, Plateau and Yobe, 4 each.
Reacting to the ratings, the state Commissioner for Communications, Adenike Harriet Afolabi-Oshatimehin, said it was a positive development and a challenge to remain focused in building a new Kwara.
According to Afolabi-Oshatimehin: “The emergence of the Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq-led administration as the best performing for the month of August, 2020 reflected the commitment of the government to address the infrastructural development deficits in the state.
“There’s no doubt that the Governor has been working assiduously to make a huge difference in the lives of the people and such commitment is now being recognised even nationally.”