Kwara to Hold Economic Summit
From Tunde Sanni in Ilorin
With the successes of its Education and Health Summits which have charted a new course of direction for Kwara State, the sate government has concluded arrangements to hold an Economic Summit this month.
The state government has also resolved to implement the decisions and recommendations of all the summits.
The state Governor, Dr. Bukola Saraki, made the affirmation weekend while receiving the report on State Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (SEEDS) from a team of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) led by Dr. Anire Sagay.
The governor said the proposed summit would afford all stakeholders and government to rub minds on how to accelerate the economic development of the state.
UNDP team leader had disclosed that the team had earlier embarked on tour of the three senatorial districts of the state to hold discussions with stakeholders, which formed the crux of the SEEDS submitted to the governor.
Saraki, who stressed the need for planning, said for any state to attain economic and financial empowerment development, there must be adequate planning particularly in an environment of limited resources. "When you look around, the resources have been wasted over the years particularly largely to lack of planning," he said.
He stressed the need for the state to partner with different people to enhance its development.
"And for those people again, you must have a plan if you want somebody to assist you either in form of loan, aid or grant. You must have an idea of what the grant or loan or aid is going into and unless this kind of background is done, it makes it difficult for people to be able to raise those kind of support or financial contributions," he noted.
The governor expressed the preparedness of the state government to start the implementation of the document for 2005 to 2007, adding that the report would be on the website for interested partners on some of the projects.
Saraki disclosed that government contacted UNDP for their input on the development plan based on their experience in the people's interest.
Submitting the report to the governor, Sagay said the mission of UNDP was to support the state in the preparation of SEEDS document, saying the document reflected the commitment of the administration to the people of the state on the way forward to the next three years.
Sagay stated that UNDP supported the programme in furtherance of its assistance to the state.
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