Kwara State Governor, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, says the economic reforms of President Bola Tinubu have increased the resources available for the government to settle debt and execute key infrastructural development across the state.

Mr Abdulrazaq, who hailed Mr Tinubu’s reforms while addressing supporters during the presidential primary in Ilorin on Saturday, said his administration had only N200 million left after paying salaries during his first four years in office.

“We were coming from an era of no payment of salaries and near-collapsed economy,” he stated. “Things have changed. In my first term, after paying salaries from federal allocation, all we had left was about N200m. Things have changed due to the reforms the president has implemented. This has given more resources to the states.”

Mr Abdulrazaq said further that the fuel subsidy and other economic policies of the federal government resulted in better fiscal situation which reduced state governments’ overdependence on loans.

“We were coming from an era of no payment of salaries and near-collapsed economy. Things have changed. In my first term, after paying salaries from federal allocation, all we had left was about N200m. Things have changed due to the reforms the president has implemented. This has given more resources to the states,” he explained.

According to the governor, the reforms had also deepened the state capacity to reduce its debt burden from N170 billion to N47 billion and finance key infrastructural projects across the state.

“Kwara came back from about N170bn debt and liabilities to about N49bn in a space of two years. These are some things that people need to see. The economy is doing better, and that is why we need to sustain the policies to drive the economy and developments across board.

“For people who haven’t visited the state in a long time, they will see a lot of changes in the state. Things have drastically changed for the better,” Mr Abdulrazaq stated.

Despite the fuel subsidy removal and other economic policies implemented by the Tinubu’s government, Nigerians have continued to contend with economic hardship on a daily basis.