Kwara State Under Governor AbdulRazaq Spends Over N8billion On Pilgrimages Project, N42million On Water Facilities

The Kwara State government under Governor AbdulRaman AbdulRazaq spent a total of N8,022,485,330 on “development project on pilgrimages” in nine months, a copy of the 2024 state budget performance report, third quarters seen by SaharaReporters has revealed.

The report was posted on the state government's website.

While what the government meant by development project on pilgrimages wasn’t clear, it may not be unconnected with the facilitation of annual pilgrimages by adherents of Islamic and Christianity religions to Mecca and Jerusalem respectively.

This is coming amid Nigeria’s economic crisis, triggered by surging inflation caused by the All Progressives Congress in which Governor AbdulRazaq is a member. 

Checks by SaharaReporters had earlier showed that the state government spent N6.5billion to renovate Kwara hotels in three months.

The total budget for the project is a whopping N8.5billion, with 76% of the allocated funds already utilised.

Critics had argued that the project's cost is excessive, with some claiming it's a case of misplacement of priority amidst economic challenges.

The opposition party, Peoples Democratic Party, had called for a halt to the project, questioning the government's intentions and demanding transparency.

However, while N6.5billion was spent to renovate the hotel in three months, the total capital expenditure for the healthcare ministry of the state stood at N5.4 billion in the first six months of the 2024 fiscal year, while capital expenditure for tertiary education stood at N1.538 billion.

Only N102.1 million was spent on capital expenditure for the ministry of water resources.

The state spent N16.9billion on its works ministry in six months.

Therefore, the N6.5billion spent on renovating Kwara Hotel in three months is 38.4% of the total capital expenditure for the works ministry in the state for the first six months of 2024.

Only N42million was spent on provision of water facilities in the first six months of the year while nothing was recorded to have been spent to provide hospitals and health centres.

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