Kwara State

So, I have been a bit busy planning and budgeting for next year. Now, back to the State Scale Up Program this year. I am going travel back to Kogi and then an to Kwara State during the first two weeks of November. I really want to help the doctors to get more patients in their sites by doing more community outreach for more identification. So this mean community testing days. Anyways, here is a bit about Kwara State:

Kwara State was created on 27 May 1967 when the Federal Military Government of General Yakubu Gowon broke the four regions that then constituted the Federation of Nigeria into 12 states. At its creation, the state was made up of the former Ilorin and Kabba provinces of the then Northern Region and was initially named the West Central State but later changed to "Kwara", a local name for the River Niger. The capital of the state is Ilorin, which lies 306km northeast of Lagos and 500km southwest of Abuja.

Kwara State has since 1976 reduced considerably in size as a result of further state creation exercises in Nigeria. On February 13, 1976, the Idah/Dekina part of the state was carved out and merged with a part of the then Benue/Plateau State to form Benue State.
On August 27, 1991, five local government areas, namely Oyi, Yagba, Okene, Okehi and Kogi were also excised to form part of the new Kogi State, while a sixth, Borgu Local Government Area, was merged with Niger State.

Important tourist attractions in Kwara State include Esie Museum, Owu Falls, Imoleboja Rock Shelter, Ogunjokoro, Kanji Lake National Parks Agbonna Hill Share among other attractions.
Ilorin Airport is a major center both for domestic and international flights and as now been built up into a hub for transportation of cargoes.

Agriculture is the mainstay of the economy and the principal cash crops are cotton, cocoa, coffee, kolanuts, tobacco leaves, beniseed and palm produce. The state has two universities, two polytechnics, three colleges of education.

OTHER NEWS

Last week a friend of mine, whose wife and kid live in Botswana, had his family visiting. I went with them to a huge back in the middle of Abuja, Millenium Park. I got to speak some Setswana, so that was fun. His kid is pretty cool, here is a pic. You can see me not paying attention in the background:

A different friend had a birthday party. We celebrated at a wine bar near my house.