Gombe State Governor, Muhammadu Yahaya yesterday said his administration has concluded plans to begin the distribution of assorted food items to poor and vulnerable people.

The governor made this known while inaugurating a task force for the distribution of the items at the New Banquet Hall of the Government House Gombe.

Inuwa said his government is worried about the hardships people are going through, especially at this time of the year.

“Considering the condition our people found themselves in, especially in this rainy season when many people were affected by flood disasters, in addition to other biting economic conditions which greatly affect the poor, less privileged and other vulnerable groups, our government would not turn a blind eye.

“We are not unmindful of the yearnings of our people. It is therefore against this backdrop that we deemed it fit to intervene to bring succour to the less privileged ones,” he said.

The governor said the distribution exercise is meant to cushion the effect of the high cost of food items in the country and other socio-economic challenges affecting the poor and vulnerable groups.

He assured the people that his government will continue to carry out such exercises based on the available resources at its disposal.

He said the items to be distributed included 85,300 bags of grains (maize and millet), 750 bags of rice, 550 bags of beans, 850 gallons of cooking oil, 2,400 packets of salt and 2,000 combo packs of pasta and other items.

Inuwa urged members of the committee to ensure hitch-free and equitable distribution of the items.

The Jigawa State Government yesterday announced plans to commence the disbursement of N1.7 billion to rural dwellers in the form of free grants to the poor and to the Medium, Small and Micro Enterprises (MSMEs).

The Commissioner for Finance and Economic Planning, Alhaji Ibrahim Umar, stated this to reporters in Dutse.

The disbursement is under the NG-COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (CARES) Programme.

The commissioner said the programme was designed as a performance for result by the World Bank which initiated it to assist poor Nigerians affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said the World Bank had already disbursed N700 million for smooth take-off of the programme in Jigawa.

“This is in consideration of the tight situation being experienced across the state.

“Due to the Jigawa State’s commitments, N1,000,000,000 from the state treasury was released to complement the advance payment to achieve the six-month target as approved by Governor Muhammad Badaru,”  the commissioner said.

Umar said the programme was designed as a performance for the result which will provide grants to fund numerous projects and programmes in line with the principles of the Community-driven Development Approach.

According to him, the existing platforms such as the FADAMA Development Office and State Cash Transfer Unit Directorate of Economics Empowerment will be used to deliver the programme.

The commissioner said the Jigawa State NG-CARES is implementing six disbursement link indicators from three result areas which were chosen by the state government during the programme appraisal.

He said the result of area 1 which centred on social safety nets and basic service delivery was to scale up existing safety net interventions at the state level to expand the coverage of social transfers and livelihood.

Umar said the result area 2 would centre on food security and safe food delivery, adding that it was expected to scale up interventions that help farmers increase food production and facilitate smooth functioning of the supply chain.

“The intervention in this area includes provision of seeds, fertilisers, agricultural extension services to farmers and opportunities to improve agricultural infrastructure,” the commissioner said.

Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq has long unveiled his multi-sector agenda for the people of Kwara State. He speaks to this agenda every day — and will continue to do so in town hall meetings, off-the-cuff gatherings, e-platforms, and at every opportunity he has to talk to any Kwaran on the street. The Governor will build his re-election bid on his achievements, tangible and intangible, and the plans already being implemented.

With an experienced head on young shoulders, the Governor had come to office on the back of a democratic revolution, which swept away the old order. The last three years of his first tenure recorded pleasantly measurable achievements in public access to qualitative education, healthcare delivery, potable water, agriculture, urban planning, rural development, social safety net, youth engagement and women empowerment, and pro-business policies. Data earlier provided have shown positive growths in several areas (see: Notes on the Kwara journey; Kwara marches to greater heights — it won’t recede), including improvements and greater efficiency in internal revenue generation. Hard fact: the state revenue agency posted a record-high N10.7bn in the first quarter of 2022. That was the highest IGR for a quarter in the history of the state. This is mainly due to the introduction of new technology and deliberate efforts to widen the tax nets and block leakages without undue burden to the people.

In agric, we have laid bare the journey ahead in the administration’s five-year transformation plan. It is accessible to the reading public (via kwara state government’s website), and has repeatedly been communicated at various fora over the last two years, including on radio and town hall meetings, and is steadily being implemented as resources permit.

Whether in crop or livestock farming, the administration has made its mark as can be seen in the phased investment in new tractors, bulldozers, farm inputs subsidy programmes, and reorganisation of farmers along manageable strata based on verifiable database system. The latter curtails the notorious ‘political farmer syndrome’ and ensures that government’s support get to those who truly need it.

The Governor has also shown lucid understanding of climate change issues and their ramifications for now and the future. It was in this context he has situated the question of the drying water bodies, transhumance, herders-farmers’ clashes, sustainable living, and food security. That explains Kwara’s successful bid and commitment to the AfDB-funded agroprocessing zone — one of the six planned for the whole of Nigeria.

Under the programme, herders will be supported to settle down to a life of sustainable living that not only affords them everything to productively raise their herds in modern way and an even more decent family but also ends the centuries-old confrontations with other economic groups. The gains will be unquantifiable: a more peaceful society; fatter cows with healthier and improved milk yield; a better prospect for food security; and a new frontier for job creation.

That is half the story. The agroprocessing zone entails a lot more. The zone will open a new economic frontier along agric value chains and backward integration with prospects for massive private sector-led job creation for young and old people and general prosperity that in turn reduces crime rates.

Technology is not left out in his plans for the state. The concept of workplace has changed; so must our preparations for the future. Not only has the innovation hub been designed for the urgency of now, the state is implementing what is called the Kwara State Education Transformation Agenda (KWETA), an offshoot of which is KwaraLEARN.

Under KwaraLEARN, every Kwara child in public basic schools is introduced to technology and is taught in a way that guarantees better learning outcome and a brighter future. An important plank of KWETA is the Kwara State Education Trust Fund whose law has since been passed. This officially encourages the private sector and philanthropists to support public education, including adopting schools for infrastructural upgrade and other supports that help the people.

The Trust Fund is built on the reality that government needs all the support it can mobilise to provide qualitative education to the children. While such support is certain to give massive public goodwill to the private sector funders, the law does not invite anyone to impose hidden costs on the people.

On December 13, 2021, the Governor launched a 10-year sustainable development plan (2021-2030) — the third of such Kwara-specific comprehensive plan in the history of the state. The first, a five-year plan, had been unveiled in 1970, while the second ran between 1975 and 1980. A product of wide consultations, it had been drawn by serving and retired bureaucrats and stakeholders with good heads on their shoulders.

As the Governor remarked at its launch, the blueprint is anchored on four core pillars: governance and institutional reforms; economic development; social development; and infrastructural development. The plan is estimated to gulp N4.7tr between now and 2030 — a long-term investment he said is necessary for sustainable growth with funding windows from private and public sources.

It is a plan that speaks to everything needed to build a modern state and chart the path to collective prosperity: good infrastructure, youths and women empowerment; support for farmers and food security; small and medium scale enterprises, creativity, tourism and arts; and leveraging technology and innovation for improved revenue generation, mass employment, good healthcare system, and sustainable living in 21st century.

An offshoot of the blueprint is the Ilorin City Master Plan, the second of such since 1970s for the capital city. Covering an area of 2,000 kilometre square and drawn largely from stakeholders’ inputs, the 20-year master plan provides professional insights into how the city will be organised in the areas of public transport and utilities, waste management, water and drainage system, education, health, climate change management and green areas, job opportunities, agriculture, and future expansion of the city as its population grows.

The Governor has said such plans are in the pipeline for Offa/Oyun, Igbomina, Patigi/Edu, and Baruten axes of the state. This is the path to sustainable future.

With signature projects like Sugar Film Factory, Visual Arts Centre, Innovation Hub, Garment Factory, Ilorin International Conference Centre, and support for small businesses, it is clear Kwara is boldly registering itself back to national consciousness. The vision is supported by many big road projects in the north, south, and central which connect important parts of the state. Add those to the imposing General Tunde Idiagbon Bridge — a soon-to-emerge cynosure which will serve as Kwara’s version of the beautiful Ikoyi Bridge, decongest traffic into University of Ilorin, and ease the traffic for Ilorin of the future.

The whole idea is to improve the business outlook of Kwara State, raise its competitiveness among its peers, create fertile grounds for sustainable growth and employment, and improve the living standards of the people.

The above, and more, shows a clear, sure-footed and implementable vision the Governor has for the state and its people. He will continue to speak to not just this vision and its implementation strategies, but importantly to his bold footprints in every part of Kwara State, especially in basic amenities, education, infrastructure, expanding economic base, support for the poor and elderly, gender inclusion policy, and many projects of now and the future.

These are things that speak for AbdulRazaq and are readily available for public assessment ahead of the polls. When campaign opens in the next few weeks, the Governor will prefer to (as he did in 2019) move from one community to the other, in city centres and in far-flung agrarian settlements, at night and in day time, to seek people’s mandate. If he isn’t on fancy platforms beset by cameras, he definitely means no harm or disrespect. It is because he is elsewhere on the road inspecting ongoing projects or talking to the electorate and community leaders.

• Ajakaye is CPS to the Governor of Kwara State

No fewer than 150 physically challenged people yesterday benefited from cash donations and food items from members of Tinubu Inuwa Mandate Organisation in Gombe.

At a ceremony, which attracted a large number of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya supporters, the Chief of Staff Gombe, Malam Abubakar Inuwa Kari said the donation is just the beginning of many packages by supporters of the All Progressives Congress presidential and governorship candidates for the vulnerable and the less privileged in the state.

“You know the physically challenged people are a very critical group in our society. They are the less privileged and the ones that need help, so we are kick-starting his empowerment program for the less privileged with them. It is going to be a gradual process, we are going to do the next stage for women, youths and it goes on like that till the campaign starts,” he said.

He said this is in a way to show that Asiwaju and Governor Yahaya are ready for the people of Nigeria and Gombe State.

On the strategy to ensure the victory of Governor Yahaya and Asiwaju Bola Tinubu in the 2023 general elections, the Chief of Staff said the APC as a people-oriented party is always with the people and will go directly to the people.

The Commissioner for Agriculture Alhaji Muhammad Magaji Gettado said the support of the people of Gombe for Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Governor Yahaya is tremendous and are only waiting for the 2023 general elections for them to claim victory.

He said the people of Gombe have no fear of the general election because of the antecedent of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and what Governor Yahaya has done in the state.

“All local government areas in Gombe State are involved here today and the items are provided free with money to transport them back to their respective homes. The items and money are donations from members of TIMO and other well-meaning individuals who are with us,” he said.

One of the beneficiaries, Aishatu Jalo thanked TIMO and promised to cast her vote for them in next year’s general elections.