First Lady To Inaugurate Projects In Kwara As Govt Immortalises Innih, Lawal, Yekini, Others

The Kwara State governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, has approved naming some old and new legacy projects in the state after historical figures and leaders.

On top of the list is the First Lady of Nigeria, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, after whom the multibillion naira Civil Service Clinic project is named.

A statement signed by the governor’s press secretary, Rafiu Ajakaye, said First Lady Tinubu will perform the groundbreaking ceremony of the massive project during her official visit to Kwara State between January 28 and 30, 2025.

Along with the ICT Centre built under her office’s Renewed Hope Initiative at the Kwara State University of Education, the wife of the president will also inaugurate a few legacy projects of the Governor, such as the Unity Flyover, ultramodern Intensive Care Unit, Executive Ward, and Gen. Tunde Idiagbon Flyover—earlier named after the late disciplinarian leader.

The road leading to the flyover is now to be called the Tafawa Balewa Road, a gesture in honour of Nigeria’s former Prime Minister, who was killed in the January 1966 military coup.

Meanwhile, the governor has approved the ICT Centre to be named after former minister of state for health, Dr Amina Ndalolo. In contrast, the executive ward at the Kwara State Teaching Hospital is named after the late prominent physician and politician Dr. Amuda Aluko.

The first state secretariat is now to be called the Brigadier General David Bamigboye Secretariat in honour of the first military administrator of the old Kwara State. In contrast, the new secretariat was named after Rear Admiral Muhammed Alabi Lawal, who governed the state between 1999 and 2003.

Kwara State Stadium Complex will now be known as Major-General George Agbazika Innih Stadium Complex to appreciate his contributions to the state.

The stadium’s main bowl is named after the late Rashidi Yekini, a football legend who scored Nigeria’s first World Cup goal and is the country’s highest goal scorer to date.

The governor, similarly, approved for some other critical state facilities to be named as follows: Table Tennis Arena is named after Atanda Musa (Manza Musa), who was a national champion in the games in 1979; Indoor Sports Hall is named after Gabriel Babatunde Ladipo, the first black principal of the Government Technical Training School Ilorin (GTTS) who was regarded as the father of sports in the state; Squash Court is named after Coach Bolakale Mogaji, executive chairman of the Kwara State Sports Commission who was the pioneer coach, player, and national champion in the squash game; KFA Academy is named after Coach Usuman Adenuja, the first football coach who took the Kwara Academicals to the final of Academical football competition. The Governor was among his products.

The stadium’s Hostel A is named after Salihu Ishola, the first Kwaran Commonwealth Games medalist; Hostel B is named after Paralympic badminton bronze medalist Bolaji Eniola; and Hostel C is named after Bola Esan, the first female director of sports.