The National President of the Ilọrin Emirate Descendants Progressive Union (IEDPU), Alhaji Otta Aliyu Uthman, has recalled how a disparaging comment about its yearly anniversary birthed over N200m projects.
Uthman disclosed this with City and Crime during a session at the sideline of a press conference to herald its forthcoming 58th annual national conference.
Some of the projects include the N178 million Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari Skills Acquisition Centre and IEDPU Jumaat Central Mosque, among others.
He said the projects were embarked upon to address security challenges and encourage technical entrepreneurship among youth in the emirate.
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“The issue of skill acquisition came up when we observed that a lot of negativities arose from the training received from unknown places.
“Sincerely speaking, the idea for this gigantic centre came up about five years ago when I met somebody for help on projects for our anniversary; I would not mention his name.
“But he said you people always produce calendars; what money are you looking for? I will give you N20,000.
“I became worried with that perception and despite all my explanations that we do many other things apart from launching calendars, he refused.
“Such perception is worrying and gave us the impetus for all these projects. The skill centre alone is N179m which is a conservative estimate in addition to the ultra-modern central mosque,” Uthman added.
He said the two which symbolise “work and worship are the heritage we inherited from our forebears and they are the legacies we are determined to bequeath to the younger ones and future generations of indigenes of Ilorin Emirate.”
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