Kwara wants FG intervention on rural roads

Kwara State gov-ernment has again appealed to the federal government for urgent intervention on the rehabilitation of federal roads in the state in order to save lives and boost commercial activities.According to Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed, the Kishi-Kaiama; Jebba-Eiyenkorin; Ajasse Ipo-Erin-Ile; and Ojuku-Kogi boundary roads are some of the federal roads in the state that require urgent intervention.While also calling on the Federal Government to pay the outstanding 50 per cent of the about N6 billion which the state spent on the Ilesha-Baruba-Kosubosu federal road so that the state could have more money for its own road projects, the governor explained that the state government was prepared to partake in the rehabilitation of federal roads, if both levels of government agreed on the funding and repayment modalities.'We must get the assurance that this fund will be refunded so that our other priority projects are not allowed to suffer any setback", the governor said.Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed, who made the calls over the weekend, at an interactive radio programme, 'The Governor Explains', also advised the Federal Government to expedite action in bringing back life to the country rail system.According to Governor Ahmed, when the rail system becomes functional across the country, the pressure on the road network would ease and their life span would be elongated. On his advocacy for synergy between the Federal Government and the state government on joint funding, ownership and maintenance of projects, Governor Ahmed said the platform of the Governors' Forum and the National Economic Council were being explored to ensure proper fundings of critical areas of public value and maintenance of such.'We have success story in the UBEC funding system where the state and the Federal government jointly support basic education. This has been a huge success story. We have seen the success story under the MDGs too. We can take advantage of this success stories and remodel it to suit other areas that are not exclusive to the federal government,' he said.
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