Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq has said local communities have the option of nominating trusted indigenous contractors to fix schools and hospitals, while the government would provide funds to execute the project.
He assured that the government will provide the prototypes and the standard of the schools or hospitals to be built, while local communities would engage contractors to fix them under strict monitoring.
The governor said the new strategy is expected to engender community participation in project execution, empower local contractors, ensure community ownership of public infrastructure, and increase the purchasing power of the people.
The governor, however, said contractors nominated by communities would be considered for projects, only after scaling the government’s procurement processes and meeting all pre-requisites as demanded by law.
AbdulRazaq said the state government recently retooled the 2019 budget to focus on rebuilding basic infrastructures, such as township roads, schools, hospitals and public toilets to tackle the menace of open defecation. He stated this in Kaiama town late Tuesday on a tour of public facilities in the northern senatorial district.