Kwara pledges consistent capacity building for workers

KWARA State government has said it would not allow its current economic downturn to affect the focus on training of its civil servants as it expressed readiness to collaborate with professional training institutions across the country to make its workers more effective.

Governor AbdulFattah Ahmed, who made this promise while commissioning a new training school, Goshen International Business School in Ilorin, Kwara state, acknowledged that consistent training would remain the core of his administration’s welfare programmes for civil servants.

Meanwhile, having resolved its disagreement, the state government has promised to vacate the mini campus in three months after it forcibly occupied the property in June.

Vice Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, Prof. Abdulganiyu Ambali, who made this known in Abuja, said that the state government gave the promise in a letter to the university and at a meeting with the authorities of the university.

Governor Ahmed, who was represented at the event by his deputy, Elder Peter Kisra, said his government sees great opportunities in the economic challenges facing the nation and would therefore explore them to improve on the revenue generating capability of the state through proper training of workers to implement policies effectively.

He noted “we look forward to collaborating with Goshen International Business School and others in training civil servants for enhanced efficiency and effectiveness in recognition of their pivotal role in the provision of good governance. Indeed, regular training and retraining is at the heart of our welfare program for civil servants in the state.

“However, these services will come at the high cost at a time of sustained drops in federally allocated revenue to our state. As a state, we refuse to be defined or hobbled by this unfortunate turn in our national economic. As a proactive administration, we see opportunity in this economic crisis that is why we established the Kwara State Internal Revenue Service [KSIRS] as the sole agency responsible for collecting and managing taxes and other revenue on behalf of state and local governments.”

At the event, one of the Advisors of the school, Dr. Femi Atoyebi expressed concern that organisations were not focusing on training which he said is responsible for the low capacity of many workers who eventually become outdated after many years on the job.

He therefore expressed delight over the vision behind the establishment of such an enterprise in the state saying it will go a long way in filling existing gaps in the development of human capital that is seriously needed in several sectors of the economy across the country.