26 January 2013  Nigeria: Health and Agriculture Key, Says Kwara
Governor Saraki   Ilorin — This interview was first done in
2009, when an AllAfrica team visited a rural health clinic and a
farm in Kwara state and afterwards talked to then-Governor
Bukola Saraki about rural development. We are revisiting that
conversation now, because AllAfrica is exploring those issues in
Nigeria in more depth this month and in the months to come. What
the governor – now a senator from Kwara state – said then can
help to benchmark how far Nigeria has come in the past three
years and how far it still has to go. Excerpts:  You're a
medical doctor who has become a politician. Has your
professional background had an influence on what you do as
governor?  We have the first state health insurance scheme in
Nigeria. The design came partly from my medical background but
more from experience, after being governor.  It is always easy
for us to look at things like bricks and mortars and say, "I've
built a hospital." People will come, t