Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq has described the North Central state as one of the safest states in the country with minimal records of insecurity.
The governor disclosed this while receiving the Federal Government joint mission team on Special Agro Processing Zone (SAP) who paid him a courtesy visit at the State Government House in Ilorin.
He attributed the success recorded in the security sector to the strong synergy between traditional rulers and security agencies.
“The issues of armed robbery, kidnapping among others, are very low because of proper synergy between traditional rulers and security agencies. Even, herdsmen-farmers conflict, we try to reduce it to the barest minimum through dialogue,” he said.
He furthered that his administration would continue to initiate policies and programmes that would attract investors and turn around the economic fortunes of the state for the better.
AbdulRazaq, who assured the team of smooth take-off of the project, said he keyed into the programme to improve economic fortunes of the state by exploring its geographic location, adding that the conflict in some parts of the country had led to the influx of herdsmen into the state.
Attributing the delay in the take-off of the project to COVID-19 pandemic which has affected environmental impact assessment, he hinted that Kwara had initiated partnership with Lagos on how to improve dairy and rice production not only to boost food production but also improve the state Internally Generated Revenue.
“Once again we are excited that you are here and whatever we need to do will be done properly with the right resources and getting the right intellectual input. I thank you very much and hope to see you back very soon when the programme fully kicks off,” AbdulRazaq said.
Also speaking, the team leader, Dr. Chuma Ezedinma of AfDB had told the Governor that the programme would be implemented in all the 36 states of the federation and FCT, adding that Kwara is one of the first six states selected for the pilot scheme in the first phase of the project.
“Today, we have gone round the state and we have seen the preparedness of the state for the project. We had a technical interaction and we have told the technical team what to do to be able to start this programme as soon as possible.We are impressed with the livestock aspect that you have chosen and we are very happy with the level of your preparedness,” Dr. Ezedinma said.
The team, which comprised top officials from African Development Bank (AfDB), Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD), Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, (FMFB&NP), International Fund for African Development (IFAD) and the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA), solicited the support and cooperation of the state to ensure that the project would not be delayed anymore.