By Wole Adedeji, Ilorin
The Kwara State Government has launched a N4.7 trillion 10-year Sustainable Development Plan (SDP) envisioned to brighten the future that it pursues, according to the governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq .
The SDP, the governor said was anchored on four pillars of governance and institutional reforms, economic development, social development, and infrastructural development.
He added that the SDP comprises in clear terms “our plans for education, healthcare, security architecture, transport system, rural-urban development, waste management, youth engagements and women empowerment, safety nets, climate change and other environmental issues.”
Giving an insight in the SDP the governor said: “In January this year, we unveiled a five-year agricultural transformation plan which revolves around our comparative advantage as a state with a vast arable land. That agribusiness plan was the first of its kind in our state in many years. However, it was just a standalone, one-sector-specific plan.
“Today, we are launching a 10-year sustainable development plan (SDP: 2021-2030) upon which hangs everything we need to do to place Kwara on the path of inclusive and sustainable growth”.
He added that; “Kwara State had its first development plan in 1970 and it ran for five years. The second development plan ran between 1975 and 1980. This Sustainable Development Plan is the third of such comprehensive Kwara-specific blueprint which plans for the future of the state.
“The SDP draws from extensive bottom-up consultations with stakeholders. It is anchored on four core pillars: governance and institutional reforms; economic development; social development; and infrastructural development.
He disclosed that the development plan was estimated “to gulp N4.7tr between now and 2030 — a long-term investment that is necessary for sustainable growth. The funding will come from public and private sector sources.
“The cross-cutting linkages of the sectors” he added, “remain an important feature of the plan beginning with the robust sector diagnostic report and the practice-based results monitoring framework.
“The plan has been drawn with full involvement of the bureaucracy and various stakeholders. It also aligns with various high-level policy parameters such as Nigeria’s Sustainability Plan, the African Union Agenda 2063 and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
“No plan is cast in iron. The SDP therefore envisages periodic reviews to accommodate realities unforeseen at the time of its formulation. It has been designed to accommodate our annual strategic plans and medium term sector strategies (MTSS).
“Our choice of a 10-year horizon is intentional. Despite its attention to local realities, it serves to benchmark and converge with the UN-SDGs as far as possible, given the 2030 close-out year for both policy instruments”.
Earlier in her remarks, Kwara State Finance Commissioner, Florence Olasumbo Oyeyemi, said the SDP sought to address the “core developmental issues of poverty, infrastructural deficit, and inequality by leveraging on the synergies of the people, the private sectors, and related capabilities using an inclusive and sustainable approach.”
The Minister of State, Budget and National Planning, Prince Clem Ikanade Agba who was the chief launcher of the plan commended the Kwara State government for taking a bold step to organize the 10-year Sustainable Development Plan, (SDP).
According to him, Kwara State had not only taken a lead in this quest but had also taken after the Federal Government who had kicked off its 2021-2025 Development Plan pointing out that governance is best when it places priorities on development plans.
He lamented that development in Nigeria in the years past had failed because of the lack of development plans such successive attempts had adopted in doing so.
The current Development Plan Goal of the Federal Government he said would be all inclusive pointing out that all the 36 States and 774 Local Governments across the country would be involved.
Not only that, the plan would involve extensively, the private sector, the trade unions, three major political parties and leaders of both Islamic and Christian faiths to accommodate every national interest in order to achieve an all round goal.
Also, the development goals would include genders like the National Women Council and traditional institutions so as to arrive at producing a blue print plan to guide the Federal Government in its implantations of every sector of the economy, the Minister added.
In addition, he said the target of this planning gesture would be to boost the Gross Domestic Production (GDP) of the government from which the nation’s revenue would move from its present 7% on GDP to 15%.
Similarly, Prince Agba said with time government would have through Sustainable Development Plan, (SDP) critically review the past plans to the effect that it would rectify the areas that led to the failures of such past plans.
In her message at the SDP Launch, Mrs. Oorelope Adejoke Adefulire, who is a former Lagos State Deputy Governor and currently the Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to the President on Sustainable Development Goal commended Governor AbdulRahman AbdRazaq for initiating the SDP in Kwara State.
She disclosed that Federal Government had been watching the developmental strides of the governor which prompted it to want to identify and partner with him in his efforts.
In that regard, Mrs. Adefulire announced a donation of a state of the art hospital that the Federal Government had built, completed and fully equipped at Eiyenkorin, an outskirt of Ilorin, the capital. The hospital was later handed over to the government after the launch programme.
Also present at the event were Special Adviser to the President on Economic Matters Dr. Sarah Alade; Special Adviser to the President on Ease of Doing Business Dr. Jumoke Oduwoye; Senior Special Assistant to the President on SDG Princess Adejoke Adefulire and the State cabinet members.