The Kale Kawu’s Ideas: Kwara Huge Figures Need A Governance Mathematician, Not a Resource waster
By Olalekan Hamzat
Kwara is a state of huge figures. Year after year, the budgets are huge, the allocations from Abuja are huge, the internally generated revenue is huge, the borrowing figures are huge, and the potentials in land, human capital, markets and location are all huge. Yet the ordinary Kwaran is not feeling the hugeness. In Kwara South, the figures are a mockery, because people can see money being announced on paper but cannot see it on the ground.
That is the story of the AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq administration, a government that spends huge but delivers little, a government that announces billions but leaves the people poorer, more disconnected and more neglected. Walk through Kwara South, from Offa to Omu-Aran, from Erin Ile to Ijagbo, from Ifelodun to Irepodun, Ekiti, Isin and Oke-Ero, and the wastage is visible. Roads are abandoned mid-construction or completed without quality and soon washed away, and the money is gone but the road is not there. Schools are left to decay, with dilapidated classrooms, no furniture and no teaching materials, while pupils sit under leaking roofs even though the budget says education is a priority. Hospitals and primary health centres are neglected, while families travel long distances for care they should receive in their own communities. Agriculture, the lifeblood of Kwara South, has been abandoned to fate. Farmers do not get inputs, they do not get support, they do not get access to markets, and they do not get protection against insecurity and climate shocks. Youths are left without jobs, without skills and without hope. Women are left without support. Traditional institutions are left without respect. Communities are left to fend for themselves. What is worse is that the administration cannot account for the results. There is no transparency in procurement, no audit of outcomes, no explanation for why projects stall, why money disappears and why the people are left with nothing. That is not governance, that is wastage.
Governance is not about announcing figures. It is about making figures work for the people, and that is what Engr. Kale Kawu understands. That is why he is described as a governance mathematician. He knows that a budget is not a speech, it is a plan, a series of equations: if you put money here, what will the people get there? If you invest in agriculture, how many jobs will you create? If you fix a road, how many markets will you open? If you equip a hospital, how many lives will you save? Kale Kawu is an engineer. He thinks in systems, in sequences and in measurements. He does not waste resources because he understands that every naira spent is a trust held for the people.
He is the best answer for the job for four reasons. First, he has the competence. He is not a politician by accident, he is a professional who understands planning, execution and delivery. He will not abandon projects halfway, because he knows that abandonment is the biggest form of waste. Second, he has the ideas. The Kale Kawu’s Ideas for Kwara South is not an empty document, it is a clear framework: agriculture as a business, education as a priority, healthcare as a right, roads as a connector, youth and women as partners, and inclusive governance as a principle. Third, he has the character. He listens to community leaders, he respects traditional institutions, he engages stakeholders and he understands that governance is not done from a distance. He is a man of accountability, not a man of excuses. Fourth, he has the vision. He sees Kwara South not as a forgotten zone but as the engine of Kwara’s economy, and he sees Kwara not as a state that needs more money but as a state that needs better management of the money it already has.
That is the difference between a governance mathematician and a resource waster. One builds, the other burns. One measures, the other mismanages. One delivers, the other disappears. The 2027 election is a choice between more wastage and a new beginning. Kwara cannot afford another four years of huge figures and zero results, another four years of neglect, abandonment and broken promises. Kwara needs a man who can turn huge figures into huge impact. That man is Kale Kawu.
Olalekan Hamzat is a PhD student at the University of Ilorin