The governor’s visit came after the students returned from the independence parade at the Metropolitan Square in Ilorin, the state capital.

AbdulRazaq, who had gone to identify with the children, also inspected the ongoing renovation of two blocks of five classrooms in the school.

The renovation work came following AbdulRazaq’s maiden visit to the school in July, during which he lamented the neglect of the school and pledged to ensure the facilities were upgraded.

Mrs Faoziyah Aroyehun, the principal of the school, commended the governor for the audio books which she said would be very useful for the pupils.

“These audio books are particularly useful for the visually impaired students and we appreciate His Excellency for the kind gesture. We also commend him for the ongoing interventions in the school which he had facilitated,” she said.

In a message that targeted the interest of the less-privileged, AbdulRazaq had earlier in his Independence Day message called on Nigerians to “build a country that works for all and not just for the privileged few. This requires that we look at the bigger picture each time we take decisions in our areas of influence. That bigger picture is national unity, national development and collective prosperity where no one is left behind.”

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In what was a first in the state’s history, AbdulRazaq said he purposely scheduled the meeting for the school to let the top bureaucrats and government functionaries appreciate the need to allocate resources in manners that directly benefitted the downtrodden in the society.

The governor had earlier visited the school a few weeks ago to listen to the teachers and inspect the facilities there, apologising to the children and promising to quickly attend to their needs.

“Work has started, in line with our Iseya mantra. I’m sorry to drag you here; it is symbolic. This is necessary for you to understand that there are other people who have needs that we should meet. I want (the budget) to be more inclusive going forward,” he told the civil servants at the mid-year budget review session in Apata Yakuba suburb of Ilorin, the state capital.

The meeting was attended by the Head of Service Mrs Susan Modupe Oluwole; Chairman of the Kwara State Internal Revenue Service (KW-IRS); permanent secretaries; directors and heads of various government departments and parastatals.

AbdulRazaq told the bureaucrats that bringing them to the school was to ensure that budgets were made to reflect the condition of the people, and not a show of executive powers.

“I’ve been here before and I know they have needs. The pupils here don’t have access to very basic needs. They don’t have light. They can’t read. This is a trend across the state. Our schools are in bad states. This is why we emphasise the need to get basic things running first,” he said.

“The budget should be realistic. We should bring things back to standard. So, bringing you here is to encourage you to feel the situation here. It is not impunity. It is for us to understand the terrible state of things. It is to make you appreciate the situation here. I want you to appreciate the environment in which you work.

“We want to put basic things in place first before we move into big budget (projects). We will eventually embark on those (big) things but we want to put basic things in place first.”

He urged the top civil servants and wealthy members of the society to help the needy such as the special needs children and other disadvantaged members of the society.

The meeting was the second time the governor would pull top civil servants to the hinterland to have a feel of the condition of the people.

In June, the governor summoned permanent secretaries and other officials to Patigi, in Kwara North, following his visit to some schools and hospitals whose conditions he said were unacceptable to him.

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“Now that I have seen things for myself, I know the depth of the problem we have in this sector and we’ll be responsible in allocating scarce resources. We’ll come back here to ensure that basic standards are met. The truth is that basic needs are not met and it is a shame,” AbdulRazaq said during a visit to Kwara State School of Special Needs, Apata Yakuba, Ilorin.

“As a government, we want to apologise to them for living in this kind of condition and we will make sure that minimum standards are met.”

AbdulRazaq toured the school facilities along with some government officials and administrators of the school.

In what seems a deliberate move to give them a sense of belonging, AbdulRazaq took turns to shake hands with the children and the teachers of the school whom he commended for their resilience and commitment.

He directed the Permanent Secretary, State Ministry of Education and Human Capital Development, Hajia Mariam Garuba, to urgently submit a recommendation to the government on what the school needed to give the children a good head start in life.

Aroyehun Faoziyah, principal of the special needs school, said they lacked basic amenities to take care of the children even as the classrooms were totally dilapidated.

She said the school lacked toilets while its clinic was without basic drugs to treat malaria and other common ailments.

AbdulRazaq had earlier visited the office of the Deputy Governor, Kayode Alabi, to assess the facilities that were mostly damaged.

He also visited Kwara Hotel to assess its facilities.

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