*Governors’ forum chair lauds Tinubu’s economic reforms
*Says Kwara’s debt cut from N170bn to N49bn in 2 years
Hammed Shittu in Ilorin
Kwara State Governor and Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, has said that the 36 states of the federation are no longer borrowing to pay salaries due to the ‘ingenuity’ and economic transformation agenda of the federal government.
Speaking in Ilorin at the weekend at his Adewole Ward, Ilorin West, shortly after the presidential primary election of the All Progressives Congress(APC), the governor said that apart from not taking loans for recurrent purposes, the subnational governments can now implement key capital projects.
“President Bola Tinubu’s economic reform is yielding positive fruits, as more resources are now available for steady infrastructure growth and workers’ welfare across the 36 states of the federation. We were coming from an era of no payment of salaries and a near collapsed economy.
“Things have changed. In my first term, after paying salaries from federal allocation, all we had left was about N200 million. Things have changed due to the reforms the president has implemented. This has given more resources to the states.
“Now, you don’t hear that states are borrowing to pay salaries. That wasn’t the case before. Then, many states had to borrow money, we had to issue bonds to drive capital projects in my first term. Now, we are not talking about that anymore. We have enough resources to easily pay workers’ salaries and we are even paying back loans, while also developing infrastructure,” he stated.
AbdulRazaq added that Kwara was gradually paying back its previous debts which have now fallen from about N170 billion to around N49 billion in a space of two years.
“These are some things that people need to see. The economy is doing better, and that is why we need to sustain the policies to drive the economy and developments across the board. For people who haven’t visited the state in a long time, they will see a lot of changes in the state. Things have drastically changed for the better,” the governor emphasised.
The governor further noted that the APC presidential primary election reflected a full endorsement of Tinubu’s programmes since he took over the reins of governance.
“It’s a full endorsement of the President’s programmes. I would have thought that after a series of primaries, beginning with the House of Representatives and House of Assembly, the Governorship, members of our party will be tired and just assume that the President has won and will sit at home. But that’s not the case.
“They’ve shown that they are in full support of the President. They’ve come out to show that today, and there was no apathy at all. We have two contestants in this election – President Bola Ahmed Tinubu Ahmed and Mr. Stanley Osifo. We gave our full support to Mr President throughout the state. The other aspirant did not get any vote. It is a full endorsement of the President,” he stated.
Also addressing party leaders and supporters at the Adewole Ward, the State Chairman of APC, Sunday Fagbemi, commended them for coming out en masse to support Tinubu.
“We are happy that Kwara is progressing under Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq. We thank all members of the party for not disappointing President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq,” he said.