Vice President Kashim Shettima on Wednesday inaugurated the Kwara State Garment Factory, designed to provide at least 4,000 jobs when operating at full capacity, as part of efforts to expand employment and industrial activity in the state.
Shettima also commissioned the 11-storey Kwara Revenue Service (KWRS) House in Ilorin, describing the projects and other investments by the administration of Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq as initiatives that should be sustained for future generations.
The commissioning formed part of activities marking AbdulRazaq’s turbaning as the Sardauna of Ilorin by the Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Ibrahim Kolapo Sulu-Gambari.
AbdulRazaq became the first person to hold the traditional title, which translates as Defence Minister of the Ilorin Emirate.
Speaking at the turbaning ceremony at the Emir’s Palace, Shettima said the governor’s investments in education, healthcare, infrastructure, and economic development reflected the importance of building projects that can serve generations beyond an administration’s tenure.
In a statement issued by Stanley Nkwocha, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Communications (Office of the Vice President), Shettima said, ‘These are chapters in the story of a state as its people encounter it: the lesson a child can attend, the treatment a household can seek, and the market a farmer can reach.
‘Such investments must be sustained so that those who inherit them can build upon them. A legacy takes its fullest measure in the generations it continues to serve’, he said.
The Vice President also praised what he described as the AbdulRazaq family’s longstanding relationship with the Ilorin Emirate, recalling that the governor’s late father, Alhaji AbdulGaniyu Folorunsho AbdulRazaq, was Northern Nigeria’s first lawyer and the first Mutawalle of Ilorin.
According to him, the conferment of the Sardauna title on the governor represented another chapter in the family’s relationship with the emirate.
‘His father, Alhaji AbdulGaniyu Folorunsho AbdulRazaq, SAN, OFR, carried an Ilorin name into history as Northern Nigeria’s first lawyer. Every path begins with someone willing to walk without familiar footprints. Through law and diplomacy, his story became part of Nigeria’s own.
‘The branch may reach towards another horizon, yet it carries within itself the memory of the root. His father was the first Mutawalle of Ilorin, a title that remains in the family in celebration of their bond with the Emirate. Today, another chapter enters the family’s relationship with this palace’, Shettima said.
The Vice President said the continuity of the AbdulRazaq family’s legacy demonstrated that while a surname could be inherited at birth, the responsibilities associated with it had to be undertaken afresh by each generation.
‘As Governor AbdulRazaq receives his turban, we remember those who preceded him, and we offer prayers for the generations who will encounter this occasion through the stories their elders preserve’, he added.
Shettima also spoke about his personal friendship and working relationship with the governor, saying both regularly engaged on matters of governance beyond ceremonial occasions.
He said their responsibilities frequently converged at the National Economic Council, where the Federal Government and states deliberate on economic proposals, implementation, financing and the circumstances confronting communities across the country.
‘At the National Economic Council, our responsibilities meet in discussions concerning the federation and its states. We consider how economic proposals connect with implementation, financing and the circumstances of communities.
‘That work requires listening across different experiences and respecting the obligations each government carries. A federation is sustained through the patient conversation between those who share responsibility for its people. No boundary on an administrative map can divide the dignity Nigerians are entitled to expect’, he said.
Shettima noted that AbdulRazaq, as Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, also participates in engagements with the Federal Government and development partners, saying such institutional responsibilities ultimately centred on meeting the needs of farmers, households and businesses.
He said, ‘There is something sobering about celebrating a friend while both of you remain answerable to the demands of public office. Titles will eventually pass into the record of our lives. The human bonds formed along the way should endure beyond the appointments through which other people first came to know us’.
The Vice President identified renewed classrooms, expanded medical coverage and roads connecting communities among areas in which the Kwara administration had invested, stressing the need to preserve and build on such interventions.
The ceremony was attended by the governors of Imo, Kebbi, Plateau, Ekiti, Ogun, Niger, Bayelsa and Kaduna states.
First Lady Senator Oluremi Tinubu was represented by the wife of the Vice President, Hajiya Nana Shettima.
Also present were Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Jumoke Oduwole; Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi (SAN); Emir of Zazzau, Nuhu Bamali; and the Soun of Ogbomoso, Oba Ghandi Afolabi Olaoye, Orumogege III, among other dignitaries.