On the16th of October, 2022, the governor of Ekiti State, Dr Kayode Fayemi, will bow out after completing his second tenure of office and service to the people of the state. A common axiom holds that government is a continuum, therefore it is expected that his successor, Mr. Biodun Oyebanji, must build on the efforts of the Fayemi administration, because the Fayemi administration has laid some legacies for the purpose of entrenching the deserved good governance the citizen are enthusiastically waiting for.
Ekiti people had witnessed series of transitions since the advent of democracy in 1999, but the coming one is peculiar in many ways. This is the first time a political party will be winning back-to-back and it is expected that the democracy dividends to be dished out to the populace must be back-to-back, on the promise that people voted for the continuation of the APC led government with high hope and expectations that their tomorrows will be better than now.
Most interesting in the breathing of fresh air within the political space the people would experience with the coming of Biodun Oyebanji in the saddle. It sounds incredulous that Ekiti has been experiencing what the people referred to as recycled leadership for over one decade, thereby making the running of government monotonous and this breakaway from old order certainly comes with high hope and the incoming government must live up to the expectations of the fresh air the people are enthusiastically waiting for. They have to rev the pedal and move with the commensurate speed, so that the spate of development can be more enhanced.
All the governors that had ruled Ekiti since 1999, including the present, had, during their times, done their bit to upgrade the development bar in all facets. All of them had instituted various programmes geared towards attracting more gain for the people. But there are lots of unresolved issues that the incoming government must focus on and pay diligent attention to, for Oyebanji’s reign to be memorable and praiseworthy in all spheres.
Most pivoted of all those issues is regular payment of salaries and pensions of workers and retirees. It is also expected that the government will respond favourably to over a decade backlog of gratuities of retirees, so that people can tend to reap the fruits of their labour. The payment of promotion arrears and deductions are also issues expected to attract high priority under Oyebanj’s leadership. It is a fact that all these only benefit a section of Ekiti people, who are civil servants, but available statistics have shown that the state’s economy is to survive under this reality; the sector must be strengthened to be able to stimulate the expected growth and development with government making the right investment in the section.
I remember with nostalgic feelings that youth and human capital development was part of the Policy thrust of the Incoming government. It is gradually becoming worrisome that Ekiti has one of the highest youth unemployment rate in the country. Without sounding as a prophet of doom, this has started to portend grave danger to Ekiti people’s collective existence with the surge in the rate of criminal tendencies like kidnapping, ritual killing, robbery and internet fraud in Ekiti. Some pundits even described the scenario as sitting on a keg of gun powder. The incoming government must surely up its game to be able to break the jinx and make the states highly favourable productive population more relevant to the running of the economy.
Also, it is an established fact that Ekiti State is one of the most educated states in the country. This has spanned over 7 decades. It is expected that we have to move with the tide of development. The world is now at the stage of industrial and technological revolution. The global community is now embracing digital economy, deploying the instrumentality of technology to drive industrial development. Though the present government headed by Dr Kayode Fayemi had tried in this area by distributing computers to secondary school teachers and students, as well as reviving the Ikun Dairy Farm and developing our tourism corridors, there is always more to be done. But the spate of development must be done in a more diligent way. The government must give this sector more vigour and muscle to contribute to economic growth by making more investments in the area that can benefit the youth majorly and transform the economic hemisphere.
A cursory look at global politics gives a pointer to the fact that the level of investment is now a function of the security a country can inject into the system. Security is now a major determinant of industrialisation and the incoming government must wake to this reality. The recent happenings in Ekiti have depicted that Ekiti is gradually joining the league of states under the siege of insecurity. Researches spearheaded by economic experts on why industries are folding up and new ones not springing up in Nigeria was hinged on the increasing level of insecurity and Ekiti is not being spared in this regard. To respond to this, the incoming government must make adequate investment in technology to checkmate criminals. It must also fortify the Amotekun corps by recruiting more personnel and provide the right facilities that can propel their functionalities to make Ekiti safer. It would also be apposite for the government to encourage and co-opt local hunters in all the 18 border towns to be part of the security architecture.
Mr. Aluko, a retired Deputy Principal from Ikere-Ekiti, can be reached through 08032712451or 08066181583
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The PDP spokesman recalled how the opposition party had on various occasions alerted that the APC government had ceded sovereignty over a large portion of our country to terrorists, “many of whom were imported into our country by the APC.”
He further stated: “From the video, in a brazen manner, terrorists as non-state actors boldly showed their faces, boasting, admitting and confirming their participation in the Kuje Prison break, some of whom were former prison inmates who were either jailed or awaiting trial for their previous terrorism act against our country.
“Nigerians can equally recall the confession by the Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai that the APC government knows the plans and whereabouts of the terrorists but failed to act.
According to Ologunagba, about 18,000 Nigerians have been killed by terrorists between 2020 and 2022 “as the criminals continue to be emboldened by the failures and obvious complicity of the APC and to which the PDP had always drawn attention.”
“This is not politics; this is about humanity and leadership, which leadership sadly and unfortunately is missing in our country at this time,” he said.
The PDP added that it is appalled by “the lame response by the apparently helpless, clueless and deflated Buhari Presidency, wherein it told an agonizing nation that President Buhari “has done all and even more than what was expected of him as Commander in Chief by way of morale, material and equipment support to the military…”
“This is a direct admission of incapacity and failure by the Buhari Presidency and the APC. At such a time, in other climes, the President directly leads the charge and takes drastic measures to rescue and protect his citizens.
“In time of adversity, the President transmutes into Consoler-in-Chief to give hope and succour to the citizens. Painfully, Nigeria does not have a President who cares and can stand as Consoler-in-Chief to the citizens.
“It has now become very imperative for Nigerians to take note and realize that the only solution to this unfortunate situation is to hold the APC government accountable. We must come together as a people, irrespective of our political, ethnic and religious affiliations to resist the fascist-leaning tendencies of the APC administration.
Ologunagba called for an urgent meeting of the National Council of State to advise on the way to go over the nation’s worsening insecurity.
“Our nation must not fall. The resilient Nigerian spirit and ‘can-do- attitude’ must be rekindled by all to prevail on the President to immediately and without further delay, accede to the demand by the PDP and other well-meaning Nigerians to convene a special session of the National Council of State to find a lasting solution since the President has, in his own admission, come to his wit’s end,” the PDP spokesman declared.
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