I LEFT Ilorin on Friday morning (March 7th, 2025). I was back home for a week, and it was the first time I returned in six months. Apparently, six months can be a very long time on the development agenda! When I went to Ilorin in September 2024, I met the governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, for about an hour. As we were ending our discussion, which had ranged reasonably widely on developments in the state, he informed me that the Government House, whose gate was then being reconstructed, was going to be named “Ahmadu Bello House”! Typically, as these things often are with Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, he sprang that on me, and to be honest, I was delighted at the depth of thought and the courage, which led to such a decision.
Sir Ahmadu Bello was the only Premier of the defunct Northern Nigeria. As we all know, he was tragically killed in the military coup of January 1966. He was a leader who pursued the vision of wide-ranging development for every corner of Northern Nigeria in a manner that offered an inclusive platform of participation for all the component communities of the old Northern Region. The old Ilorin Province, in general, loomed centrally within that inclusive vision of presence, participation, and development.
It is testimony to that vision and the incredible personal magnetism and ability to lead in an exemplary manner, yet with selfless commitment, that has kept the memory of Sir Ahmadu Bello alive, fifty-nine years after his tragic killing. By naming the Ilorin Government House in his honour, Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq has reinforced the unbreakable chains of history and of memory, in a manner that expresses our collective gratitude to the outstanding work of development and inclusivity which Sir Ahmadu Bello exemplified in the old Northern Nigeria.
I had actually returned to Abuja when pictures and videos of the final shape of the new Government House gate began to emerge online. What I saw were stunning daytime and well as nighttime pictures, which truly conveyed the grandeur of vision that all of us can be happy about because it reflects the essence of our collective gratitude to historical memory. It is doubly reinforcing that Ahmadu Bello House is the most important address on the main thoroughfare at the heart of the Ilorin Government Reservation Area (GRA), the Ahmadu Bello Way!
That is not the end of the story. Not only has that thoroughfare been reconstructed, but there’s sprang up on the same road, other institutions that add new value to the place of that neighborhood in the overall development opening up in Kwara State. The Kwara Innovation Hub was concluding its first initiative for the tech-savvy youth of Kwara State when I arrived in Ilorin, and the signpost announcing the project was still on the gate. I.T. has become all-embracing in contemporary existence, and because of the innovative spirit amongst Kwara youth, we are most likely to better appreciate the essence of that hub into the future.
The legacy Kwara Hotel is being transformed nearby, not without controversy, especially about cost and for others, even the relevance. That is in the nature of democratic norms. There is never just one way of appreciating society goals. The work of transformation is nevertheless being done with commitment, which I believe, in its final realization, would become the ultimate justification for the decision and the effort.
The Revenue House, which began snaking into the sky of Ilorin in the past two years, is gradually transforming into a modern structure of some beauty that should, eventually, prove its worth before long. Almost on the opposite side of the road is the fevered commencement of work on what is envisaged to be a courthouse of distinction, appropriately named in honour of the distinguished jurist, Honorable Justice Saidu Kawu. We will return to the naming of monuments and places later.
Further down on the Ahmadu Bello Way are the International Conference Centre and its related conference hotel. At night, the rooms of the hotel are lit up, giving a foretaste of what it would eventually look like when it is finally delivered. While behind these structures, is the modernized Civil Service Hospital. As envisaged, it would provide health care facilities for a wide radius of communities of a fast developing Ilorin urban complex.
I have read critical pieces online about the manner that so many of these new projects have been located on the Ahmadu Bello Way. I honestly think that the scatter-gun approach of locating projects in the past deprived us of the unique advantage of creating interrelated institutions that speak to coordinated structures of value addition. The transforming Ahmadu Bello Way would eventually sit at the heart of governance, revenue, judiciary, innovation, conferencing, leisure, and even tourism.
A corollary development which might have surprised a lot of people, is the restriction of traffic in the neighborhood. The truth is that what was done was actually a return to the way it used to be. Traffic had alway been restricted on the Ahmadu Bello Way in the past, in response to its location at the heart of governance. The flouting or abandonment of that restriction, unleashed an anarchic traffic regime which did not favour modernity and an ordered culture of use of the urban space. The reimposition of restriction might rankle, but it is in order. Modernity has its rules, and if we want to build a modern society with its culture, we cannot allow the imposition of an anarchic, pre-modern ethos, on ourselves or the urban space.
Over three nights, as we usually do when I’m back in Ilorin, Nurudeen Abdulrahim and I, drove around the city. We were on the new Tafawa Balewa Road which transitioned into the General Tunde Idiagbon Flyover, and ends by the University of Ilorin gate. We drove on the newly opened Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari Flyover, then transitioned onto the Unity (AbdulWahab Folawiyo) Road.
We entered the Ibrahim Taiwo Road, and made for the AbdulAzeez Attah Road, towards the Central Mosque. It was a poignant expression of the way that many of the roads in Ilorin have been expanded, and in the true spirit of Ramadan, that young people in several areas of the city, formed themselves into 5-a-side football teams, and were playing games on these rehabilitated roads.
We similarly drove through Gambari and detoured into Balogun Fulani Road. Late on Wednesday night, the construction company was at work, demarcating the lanes on the road. We drove back on the entire stretch of Emir’s Road via Oniyangi and back to the Central Mosque. On another night (Thursday night), we returned to the same neighborhood, this time to drive through Idiape to check the road construction work going through to Omoda roundabout. We also went by the Okeleru and Okekere areas of the city as well, with young people similarly taking advantage of the late times of the night, to form themselves into football teams and dueling on their streets.
In the one week that I spent in Ilorin, along with family commitments and hosting media colleagues to Iftar meals in my residence as well visiting people in several parts of Ilorin, I saw enough of the community to be able to make certain preliminary observations. The first, is that the urban renewal process embarked upon with special vigour in the past two years has made a very positive impact on the Kwara State capital. I honestly think that the last time that we witnessed this level of transformation, was during Governor George Innih’s tour of duty in Kwara State, between 1976 and 1978.
The transformation taking place has admirably shaken the pre-modern complacency with which we had hitherto used the urban space. A laissez-faire, I-do-what-suits-me attitude to public space management has now been shown to be unacceptable. If we want modernity, we must collectively accept its consequences and adjust our ways accordingly.
It is also true that where modernity is being implemented there would invariably be those who get hurt. This is inevitable. There have been noisy demonstrations especially amongst those who trade in modern electronics and computing around the railway station. The new wall constructed to aid traffic flow blocked views of their shops. I found out that government has earmarked a location where they would eventually be relocated, and the architectural plan has also been readied. These individuals would discover that they are getting a far more conducive location for their businesses. It’s just a matter of time.
The area around the Central Mosque would need special attention to be able to impose a regime of cleanliness as an ongoing agenda. The dirt there diminishes the work done to open up the roads in that general area. In my view, this would need the collective effort of the state government, the local governments, the Ilorin Emirate system, and the association of market people. There should be a sustained campaign in the local media as well as an enforcement regime. An attitude change must be inculcated in our people to earn the culture of ordered use of the spaces around them in the markets.
Our nightly outings also underscored the need for a genuine commitment to light up the entire city. There are too many dark spots at night in Ilorin. A well-lit city, and by extension, a properly lit State, can offer several advantages. The first is the reinforcement of security and the enhancement of economic life. We will be able to give an impetus to a nighttime economy in our communities. Solar-powered lamps have made it much easier now to achieve comprehensive lighting of cities, towns, and communities. We can add extra security values with the installation of CCTV cameras for security surveillance.
It is my hope that in the overall public interest, the government would seize the initiative to re-develop the Ilorin Amusement Park. That is real estate of significance and tremendous importance for leisure in the community. It used to house a mini-zoo, the remembrance arcade, restaurant, sitting areas, and a sprawling green area. It served a much less populated Ilorin, but the need for it has become more pressing today. Leisure is part of modern culture and existence and a revamp is certainly needed at the Ilorin Amusement Park!
Similarly, in the true spirit of giving to the community, I would very much like to see the Flyover by the post office constructed by Bukola Saraki, to be rehabilitated and properly lit, just like the Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari Flyover, a stone throw away. In the same spirit, the underpass leading to the airport, which AbdulFatai Ahmed constructed, should also be rehabilitated and well-lit as part of the project to light up the entire city. Relatedly, the railings on the Asa River at Gada on Emirs Road, as well as the one on Unity Road, need rehabilitation.
It is surprising that before now, there was no systematic process of naming public monuments after deserving individuals in our state. All over the world, the standard norm is to name public institutions, buildings, squares, streets, roundabouts, gardens, stadiums, and monuments after or for individuals who served the public good. We can find collective agreement and consensus, which brings us together when individuals are honoured and truly merit the choice.
I think Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq took the appropriate decision in that respect by boldly naming some public institutions in the state after deserving individuals. The standards for such gestures must be set very highly, and it would be useful to put up a committee of eminent people to nominate names of individuals. It shouldn’t be vulgarized nor reduced to a ridiculous exercise to massage egos or to propitiate political tingods!
I had endorsed the urban renewal process embarked upon by the Kwara State Government from the onset. On the evidence of what I saw in the week that I spent in Ilorin, I am satisfied that a significant green shoot of growth has been achieved in the city. There is a lot more work to be done.
Campaigns of sensitization need to be ongoing in the local media, on online platforms, in association with CBOs, NGOs, and with trade groups. The enforcement institutions must also be firm but fair. These are the ways that we can turn the green shoots of growth into an all-embracing transformation of our communities and ourselves.
- Kawu, PhD, FNGE is a broadcaster, journalist, and a political scientist and can be reached via kawumodibbo@yahoo.com.