NGO alleges huge infrastructural gaps in Kwara

NGO alleges huge infrastructural gaps in Kwara

By Stephen Olufemi Oni, Ilorin

Elites Network for Sustainable Development (ENetSuD), an anti-corruption civil society organisation in Nigeria, has alleged that corruption has led to huge infrastructural gaps in almost all of the 193 wards in Kwara state.

Speaking at the launch of Report on Kwara Communities’ Needs on Sunday in Ilorin, the state capital, the ENetSuD Director of Community Services,
Fatima Bintu Dikko, said there are evidences of lack of potable water, quality, and affordable healthcare, a sound educational system, good road network, high poverty rate and unemployment, among others, in the state.

She said: “We have also noted that government appropriation and spending through the budgets are not products of well-researched needs assessment in most cases, leading to a situation where the public fund is not sufficiently working for the taxpayers.

“Our observations triggered us to design a programme called Citizens Enlightenment and Mobilisation Programme (CEMP) that has needs assessment of Kwara communities as one of its components. The CEMP has been identifying and solving problems in so many Kwara communities since the year 2020 when it was created.

“The CEMP pilot phase, which was initially funded by out-of-pocket contribution of ENetSuD members, was later expanded by our partnership with the Gobir Organisation Foundation that sponsored the programme with a sum of N26.5m through our Memorandum of Understanding signed in June 2022.

“We started the assessment of needs of communities across 193 wards of Kwara state in July 2022 and the exercise took us seven months to complete.

“Today, we are here to inform all stakeholders about our findings from the needs assessment exercise under our CEMP project. The report will avail you the data of developmental needs of Kwara communities in the area of water, electricity, education, health, road infrastructure, agriculture, communication, sanitation, among others.”

Dikko reiterated that ENetSuD is an anti-corruption civil society organisation in Nigeria that promotes good governance, transparency, and accountability, adding that it has made history and landmark achievements in the area of tracking how the public fund is spent by the government at all levels through our #FollowKwaraMoney initiative.

In his remarks, ENetSuD Coordinator, Dr. Abdullateef Alabosi, decried lack of data for development needs in the state, noting that 146 communities didn’t have potable water in Kwara North, while 508 communities have also not experienced electricity in Kwara North. He added that 272 communities didn’t have primary schools in Kwara North, just as 896 communities also lacked health care facilities. In Kwara South, he said 54 communities didn’t have access to portable water, while lack of proper sanitation is one of the challenges of Kwara Central
Senatorial District.

End


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