Kwara State Executive Council has approved the setting up of a teaching hospital to support the training of medical students and related professionals by the Kwara State University, a major step that involves huge facility upgrades at the General Hospital Ilorin (GHI) which has been adopted for the purpose as well as legislations to guide its operations.
Commissioner for Health Dr. Amina Ahmed El-Imam told a press conference on Wednesday that the council observed that recent facility upgrades under the AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq administration had earlier qualified GHI as a postgraduate training health institution and went ahead to approve additional N906.7m seed fund to push through the historic transition.
“The proposed seed fund will meet cost of infrastructural facelift and construction of new ones, equipment upgrades, administrative changes, and address manpower needs to support training of medical students, which is complementary to the ongoing postgraduate training,” El-Imam told reporters, adding that “this will be of immense benefits to the people of Kwara State and the nation at large.”
She said the council approved for the government to present a bill on ‘establishment of the Kwara State Teaching Hospital and related matters’ to the House of Assembly.
At a council meeting on Wednesday, the government also approved the award of redesigning and wholesale rebuilding of the iconic Kwara Hotel to Craneburg Construction Company Limited to a five-star hospitality facility at the sums of N17b.8bn for a duration of 24 months, according to Commissioner for Business, Innovation and Technology Hon. Damilola Yusuf.
To be done through contract financing model to ensure prompt delivery, the construction and furnishing will be the most comprehensive since the legacy was constructed by the Brigadier-General David Bamigboye regime in 1975, clearly giving it an edge over any other facility in the entire North Central.
“The contract award followed a long procurement process that began in September 2023,” Yusuf told reporters.
That comes as the Kwara State Ministry of Works and Transport also announced immediate reconstruction works on the Wahab Folawiyo (Unity Road) Road in Ilorin, the state capital, following the state executive council’s approval of the overhauling of the major artery road that empties into downtown Ilorin.
Coordinating Commissioner for Works and Transport AbdulQuawiy Olododo told reporters that phased works on the road, such as asphalt milling, will begin from next week with minimal drags on vehicular traffic at every stage of the work.
The contractor will complete work on one lane before working on the other to reduce traffic gridlock, Olododo added.
He said dozens of traffic management officers will be deployed while government — to lessen the impacts — will also divert traffic through Obbo Road, Coca Cola Road, and Police Road. Some bad spots on the three are to undergo immediate fix, Olododo added.
He said further information on traffic management will be communicated to the public as preparation gets underway, assuring the people of adequate care while the work lasts.
“We are not demolishing any private properties and business premises not sited on government’s setbacks will not be eaten into in any way,” according to Olododo.
The road, which history began in 1976, is a great legacy of late Colonel Ibrahim Taiwo and George Agbazika Innih.
