Thread by @RealAARahman

I congratulate Kwarans on the successful completion of year 2019, which heralded a new dawn for our state after the outcome of the general election.

We spent substantial part of the outgoing year trying to stabilise a state that was left in ruins because of years of neglect —

whether in the area of water supply, basic healthcare, primary education, workers’ welfare, and other basic amenities.

We changed the water situation to an appreciable extent, restored some sanity to the primary health sector with hundreds of millions of counterpart funds, and

returned Kwara back to reckoning at the Universal Basic Education Commission. We are resuscitating dying state institutions, restoring dignity and running cost back to the civil service, returning life back to the sports sector, and

gradually stopping the bleeding of public resources, among others.

The new year would be decisive for our state in terms of socioeconomic and human capital development.

We will continue to insist on using public funds to advance public interest only and encourage a new political culture of probity and modesty in the spirit of the #Otoge revolution.

Nonetheless, Kwarans must know that we are still up against a pocket of groups that are reeling against either their lack of access to the public till or those who regard public office as an avenue to feather their own nests.

These forces will throw in everything in the new year, including blackmail and fake news, to misinform the public and distract the government. Kwarans should rest assured that we are up to the task and shall never give in to them,

amid renewed determination to free up resources for development.

In 2020, we are laying a solid foundation for a greater Kwara, one that works for all. The first quarter will record the official launch of the Social Investment Programme to empower the people

across various social strata. We will build innovation hub for our tech-savvy youths to unearth latent potentials and contribute to building solutions to local and global challenges, construct garment factories to rejig our economy and generate employment,

key into various agricultural initiatives, invest in mechanised farming, rehabilitate and equip our primary schools and basic health centres, open up our state with roads, train and retrain workers to keep them on top of their game, and

launch our e-Government initiative for ease of doing business, among others.

Going into the new year, we would work closely with the leadership of the House of Assembly to fast-track the passage of the Freedom of Information Bill to deepen transparency and accountability.

Lastly, I call on the citizens to guide against authoring or spreading fake news because it poses grave danger for public peace and order.