Governor AbdulRahman Abdulrazaq of Kwara State has unveiled the new Ilorin City Master Plan with a warning against the social consequences of population growth if not addressed.
At the official launch of the project at the Government House, Ilorin, he said “the United Nations world population prospects put Ilorin as the third most populous metro area in the entire Northern Nigeria, preceded only by Kaduna and Kano in the ascending order.
“Ilorin, according to this data, has had a population growth of between 2.53 per cent in 2020 and 3.3 per cent in 2024.
“These are not mere statistics; they have dire consequences for how we live and survive.
“Population growth has far reaching social consequences in the areas of infrastructural risk, health risk and security risk, among others. We are damned if we do not plan for it.”
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Abdulrazaq asserted that leaders have a duty to address the “challenges of now and plan for the realities of tomorrow”.
He noted that this explains the reason for the Ilorin City Master Plan, which has in turn given birth to the Ilorin Smart City.
“While the Ilorin City Master Plan has been designed to guide how we live sustainably for the next 40 years, the Smart City is an innovative response to the multidimensional challenges of urban living that now confront Ilorin, including congestion and the associated pressures it brings on the existing infrastructure,” he said.
The governor disclosed that the first phase of the ambitious project covers 11,000 hectares with an estimated N1.72 trillion funding requirements from public and private investments, between 2024 and 2027.
Chairman of the Ilorin City Master Plan project, Shittu Abdulmutalib, said it has been designed to improve the standard of living of the populace and make the city a tourist destination by making it more attractive to both local and international investors.
“Ultimately, the goal is to make Ilorin the best city in the country to live.”
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