CULLED FROM NEWSHEREANDTHERE MAGAZINE
Yinka Oyebode, Special Adviser on Media to Ekiti State Governor, His Excellency, Biodun Oyebanji, in this interview with NewsHereandThere Magazine gives some insights on the development strategies adopted by the Governor.
By October 16, 2024, the present administration of Governor Biodun Oyebanji in Ekiti State will clock two years. How will you rate the development in the state so far?
Governor Biodun Oyebanji
I will like to say that the BAO administration is an open book. And members of the public are in the best position to assess the government based on what they have seen and experienced in the last two years in terms of all round development. The evidence of good governance, infrastructure upgrade, health care delivery, education and human capital development is out there for everyone to see. However, I will take you through some highlights. When the Governor came on board, he came up with the shared prosperity for all Ekiti mantra, built around the six pillars development agenda which speaks to various critical areas that the government intend to focus on and if you look at these things one after the other, the government has been alive to its responsibility in using the various pillars to drive development.
These six pillars were drawn from the 30 years master development plan that was unveiled in 2022 by the immediate past administration. Interestingly, the incumbent governor, His Excellency, Biodun Oyebanji was the Secretary to the State Government at that time and he was central to production the 30 year development plan (2022 to 2050).There is nothing that the administration is doing presently that is not outlined in that development plan.
So, right from the onset, the Governor already knew where Ekiti should be in the next five years, and in ten years. Talking about the short term, the middle term and the long term. We have an idea what we should do to achieve that, we have an idea of where Ekiti should be in the next 20 years and there is already a well laid out plan on how to get there.
So, when some people ask if this administration is not taking on so many projects at the same time, what they dont know is that most of the development strides are well laid out. The Governor knows where Ekiti should be in the next five years and is determined to get the state there, so he has no time to waste. Every moment count and every kobo is well spent for the right purpose. There is something in the provision that says we should be in this particular point in the next 5 years. It is a journey through development. For example, some people have asked what is the need for a flyover bridge. The answer is simple, the Governor, through proper planning already knows what the population of Ekiti would be in the next five or ten years, knows what the size of our business district would be in the next five years and the volume of people commuting from different parts of the state for various transactions. So, he cannot wait until we get to that point before putting in place necessary facilities such as good roads, drainage system, flyover bridge, parking lot etc. On a daily basis the Ado-Ekiti capital city is rapidly growing into a mega city. The urban renewal project of the government is to prepare the city as a befitting capital city, thus certain infrastructure must be put in place.
What about Education?
Yes, in Education, you can also see that the BAO administration is strategic and proactive as well. It is a lot to ensure the right facilities are put in place for the children and teachers to have a conducive learning environment. A lot of attention is being given to vocational education with huge investment in our technical colleges aimed at providing options for our students who want to go for vocational studies. Major technical colleges are being empowered in partnership with World Bank to ensure that they actually scale up their facilities so that people going there will not be seen as second class. They have facilities and good environment compared with any higher institutions in the country. So, aside making education free and compulsory from JS1 to SS3, a lot of incentives were provided for teachers, including car and housing loans and ensuring that graduate primary school teachers advance to level 16.
Let’s look at Health?
Health is captured under the Human Capital Development pillar, which is focused on ensuring that people live a good life. And that’s what informed the idea of ensuring that there is free medical treatment for certain category of citizens, those whom we consider as vulnerable, children under five, elderly citizens and pregnant women.They have access to health care facilities. As a matter of fact, child delivery in our hospitals is free and treatment of malaria is also free for children. So, we are doing this to show that we have a population growth of healthy citizens. You must have also seen the injection of funds into both primary and secondary schools in the state, as well as the tertiary institutions. Teachers in primary school were not entitled to car or housing loan for long years, and their service ends at bar at level 14. Under this administration, we said no,, if other colleagues in secondary schools enjoy car and housing loans, they should also enjoy it.
At a time, perimeter fencing of all the schools were done to ensure safety and the children learn in a very safe environment without them looking on the street.
Now, all schools in Ekiti State are also reactivated, what we call school boards, school management board, so that they can focus on them and manage the school’s property.
We have also injected into the curriculum, what we call civic orientation, which a lot of people believe is lacking in the society. So, apart from the children learning subjects, they also learn about the environment, the values for which people are known and the schools in Ekiti are given running grants for the administrative level to manage the schools.
For the tertiary institution, if you notice, earlier this year, it was announced a major increment in their subvention , which is also to enable them to also run certain program, manage the campus effectively and we have been able to pay salary as at when due as well.
We were also able to do some structural development within our environment; if you notice, primary, secondary, tertiary, technical, levels are benefiting while arrangement is also being made to ensure that the teacher to student relationship is managed.
We look at empowerment for the youth, which is also part of our human capital development agenda. In Ekiti state, the administration is doing everything humanly possible to provide platforms for them, one to display their God-given talents and to create economic opportunities and jobs for them. We have a lot of talented individuals but they need good platform as well so that they would also make money and live a descent life using their talent be it sports, creative industry, innovation, great platform.
If you noticed last week, the Governor inaugurated the Ekiti Innovation Hub which is for young and talented individuals in the area of technology development, who can set up, dismantle and put things together, who can invent something new that will drive development and innovation, all happening at Obafemi Awolowo Civic Centre. And if your child is talented, there are people who can groom him and link him with international partners, so that they can also make money from this digital age.
If you look at the Adire Hub of which Her Excellency, Dr Olayemi Oyebanji is driving, this is aimed at training no fewer than 600 across the three senatorial districts, 200 each and 400 have been trained already. The not only train them, they empower them with seed money and link them to the market. The centre also buy from them, so it is win win for the beneficiaries. So, you produce your Adire and sell at your own time and the one you can’t sell, you bring it to the center, and they will buy from you.
Are the Youth being also encouraged on Agriculture?
We’re also driving the empowerment for the youth through Agribusiness, exposing them to agric development, providing them with modified seedlings, and making available to them tractor. First of all, the BAO government provides land for them free. And through the tractorization programme, the government is able to get tractor at subsidized rate to plough the farm and now government is making effort to assure that those who are working in our clusters farm get accommodation. Just two days ago, the governor provided them with a Bus for them to be able to move around, they’re exposed to the extension services of building and flexibility, which means if you have any concern, you can always go to the desk.
And as the governor said, there’s an arrangement being put in place and the focus of the administration is also to ensure that we have food sufficiency in Ekiti state to become the food basket of the world. The arrangement is that every young farmer, wherever your farm is located, the government is waiting for you at the harvest time, the ones that you can not sell, government is ready to off take it from you.
There are some also Agric giants in the state who have come to the state in form of partnership, to come around, set up processing plan, their own farms and off take from them.
What is the government doing in the area of Commerce and Industry to positively transform the State?
In the areas of commerce and industry, we trying to build entrepreneurship spirit in the youth, by introducing them to so many things. One, through the ministry of trade, investment and cooperatives, we are able to get as many youth, and many women to form cooperatives. So through cooperative, it’s easier for government to interface with them. You need tractor, you need Agric extension services, they would get it done. Then for the women, they have been exposed to loans in partnership with financial institution, at very low cost, single digit interest. We are also guiding them in the area of registration of businesses, in the area of the choices you make. Government has also upgraded the infrastructure, the road infrastructure, the power infrastructure. Through road infrastructure, we are doing it in a way that the roads will be made motorable so that you can move goods and services from one point to the other.
How is the administration working on Power area?
The Government has also done excellently in the area of power upgrade. Some communities without power in the past 10 to 15 have had their communities connected to the national grid. There are also some communities who are connected but don’t have power supply either because their transformer had spoilt, we gave them back. Another one is the IPP, which is our own offer to ensure uninterrupted power supply to governments institutions and even to private sectors they can pay for it.
The IPP was launched last year which now provides power supply to the Government’s office, Government House, tHe state Teaching Hospital, Secretariat Complex; House of Assembly and BSES and then to power street lights and now it’s been extended to the Ekiti State university for the students to enjoy enhance academic performance, social life, which in turn will reduce crime, and criminality on campus.
As the government is doing all these things, the economy is growing, is expanding. Just two months ago, Ekiti was named as the most improved state in internal generated revenue and tax collection. So with more inflow of investment to the state, with more people coming to develop interest, we are having a bigger IGR, which is building and expanding our economy.
Speaking on security, the BAO agenda is integrated and it’s interlinked. Now, through that power, we are able to do street light with solar power and it has reduced crime and criminalities and also enhanced social life which also has its own effect on economic development.
Again, the government also has a considerable investment in logistics support for security, and also increasing their capacity.
Government has also invested in technology as a way of crime detection. We are making moves to ensure that the state is safe for living and investment through technology. Through technology, we have been able to block loop holes in IGR collection against fraud and invasion.
As we speak currently, the Ekiti state government has at least 16 road projects going on continuously, and that is outside the 3 we commissioned a few days ago I stand to tell you that Ekiti is still the safest state in Nigeria.
We ensure that once our youths are empowered and taken off the street, crime will reduce and that’s what we are going to do in crime reduction.
What about Culture and Tourism?
Under creative economy, Art Culture and tourism, we are doing our best. You need to go to Ikogosi and see what is happening there. We have hiking activities and the government is also at the point of doing tourism master plan which will also guide us to make real money in tourism investment. Currently the magnificient state cultural centre, is being built, in Ado-Ekiti. It will house a theatre, conference halls, art gallery and library among others.
So, in conclusion the BAO administration’s development plans is all encompassing and cut across every aspect of human development. Now many are asking where does the Governor get the money. The answer is simple- it is about prudent management of the little money we have and making sure loopholes are blocked while also working hard to build a bigger economy. All thanks to the visionary leadership of His Excellency Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji.