Today, Kwara and Ogun states will be honored in Abuja as the most improved states in youth empowerment and women inclusiveness, and housing stocks development.

While Kwara State will be receiving the award at the BusinessDay’s States Competitiveness and Good Governance Awards ceremony, Ogun State will be honoured for housing development.

BusinessDay said the honour was on deserved states based on their contributions to the socio-economic growth of Nigeria, good governance and policies made and implemented during the year under review.

The sterling performance of Kwara State under Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq on youth empowerment and women inclusiveness in governance and skills acquisition through the Kwara State Social Investment Programme (KWASSIP) as several billions of naira have been disbursed as grants and loans to boost the activities of Micro, Small and Medium-scale Enterprises (MSMEs) in the state.

This did not only empower the youth and women across the 18 local government areas of the state, but also accelerated sustainable growth and development through a poverty alleviation programme designed under the code name – KWAPRENEUR.

In Ogun State, Governor Dapo Abiodun has spent billions of naira on provision of low-cost housing across the four zones of the state: Egba, Remo, Ijebu and Yewa, constructing 2,500 housing units in his first tenure.

For the first time in 47 years of Ogun state’s existence, Governor Abiodun became the first governor to complete 2,500 housing units in his first tenure, which is far more than the entire housing stocks provided by both the military and civilian governments in the last 47 years.