By Wale Ojo-Lanre
And why not? Yes. Why not? That gap-toothed Governor of Ekiti State, Governor Kayode Fayemi, should be pitied, praised and commended for the modicum of achievements he garnered within the last four years of administering Ekiti State.
I give him kudos, for he justifiably deserves it, and I do not care about your reaction to my opinion here. You are free to conceive, conjure, and imagine why I publicly applaud him, a man who has elevated Ekiti State beyond its previous state in all aspects. That is an incontrovertible fact.
Call it brazen sycophancy; I do not care. Call it eye service; that is your headache. I owe nobody an apology for expressing my opinion. And, of course, I won’t force you to read it.
I pity him for his strident efforts at weaning Ekiti State from the pang of underdevelopment, even though some people who abhor advancement and who are darkly blind to contemporary progressive developments will not see all that he has conscientiously laboured for and which are growing in the state.
My outburst of praise for him here is motivated by his expression of frustration over his energetic efforts to see that the Akure-Ado Ekiti Road has been dualised since 2019, which have been placed on the burner of futility and frustration by the agents of the Federal Government.
The fact is that many people are unaware of the peculiarities of Ekiti State and thus apply the same prism and angle they use to view other states, which have been made or fortunate, to gauge Ekiti State and judge those in charge of the landlocked state.
Thus, they fall into the error of generalisation and blindly condemn whoever rules the state genuinely without playing to the gallery.
However, unfortunately, society often favours quick fixes and applauds superficial infrastructure improvements, while lacking respect for fundamental structures and robust institutions.
In fact, some of the state’s residents appear not to be forward-looking, as they surprisingly prefer flashy and loud schemes over sustainable development that will benefit this generation and future generations.
There are many things that people do not understand about Ekiti State among the comity of states.
First, the state is not favoured when it attempts to allocate resources from the federal government, as it ranks around 34th in the allocation order.
Secondly, the state is not on the list of oil-producing states like its immediate neighbour, Ondo State, which enjoys largesse from the extra oil allocation.
I recall when I was the CPS to ex-Governor Segun Oni; we were always happy and dancing with a horsewhip whenever the state was fortunate enough to be allocated 2 billion naira in any given month.
I must reveal today that, on one occasion, when I accompanied Engineer Segun Oni to meet one of the governors of Rivers State, after a meeting in Abuja.
The two governors were discussing budget and allocation issues.
As Segun Oni mentioned 1.8 billion naira as the state’s last allocation, the other governor broke into ridiculous laughter. He said, ‘Your Excellency, your allocation is not enough for me, as it is a security vote.’ That was in 2009!
So I always pity whoever rules the state, no matter the fellow’s patent idiosyncrasies and behavioural patterns.
This is a state where the salary of civil servants consumed over 1.5 billion naira of the allocation in 2009, and it should now be around 2.6 billion naira in 2022.
And the highest earned allocation should be between 2.8 and 3 billion naira, taking cognisance of the hyperinflation.
This is a state in which the only appreciative programme you can offer is the prompt and regular payment of salary.
It is essential that the workers be paid for the work they do.
This is the yardstick for measuring excellent performance by the people of the state, not the volume of infrastructure the governor can build. For, civil service is the major and only industry in the state. Thus, failure to pay the workers is a deliberate attempt to shut down the state.
Also, until recently, no viable industry ever existed in the state due to Dr Kayode Fayemi’s administration’s determination to industrialise it.
Special thanks to Chief Afe Babalola, who has planted various employment-generated institutions and companies in the state.
And if you are talking of internally generated revenue, I always laugh whenever there is a cynical comment about the inability of whoever rules Ekiti State to generate revenue internally.
For the people of the state and the revenue-generating agency, it should be commended for the amount internally generated and the revenue being squeezed out of them, as it is challenging to create significant revenue from any source.
This is a state created without any seed fund or special grant, similar to when the old Ondo State was created, and a surplus fund was allocated to it for strategic development.
It’s worth noting that the number of signs in Ilesha, Osun State, is double the total number in Ekiti State.
You can generate significant revenue in areas such as industries, large concerns, merchant depots, trading posts, farms, tourism sites, conferences, megastores, and more.
So, how can the state generate heavy revenue from the people waiting for the payment of salary to oil their peku peku trading? That’s why I commend and pity Kayode Fayemi for planting, nurturing, grooming, and growing the fundamentals necessary for the blossoming of a viable and virile state.
Industries are growing in Ekiti State, multinationals are planting farms, the airport is almost ready, agro-allied companies are there, a knowledge acquisition zone is being created, and the latest is the planting of power-generating plants by Governor Kayode Fayemi.
So in the next few months, Ekiti State internally generated revenue will be shored up conveniently, not squeezed from the already tight people.
And that is also why I used to confront those who have been using the crooked Akure-Ado Ekiti road as a benchmark for the performance of Governor Kayode Fayemi.
I remember that I had a lot of brute responses from those who cannot think beyond their noises when Gov Wilke of Rivers State played to the gallery as usual and made reference to the failed road when Dr Kayode Fayemi went to visit him in Port Harcourt by making a mockery that he who could not effect the repair of a road (Federal Government road ) wanted to be the President.
I am happy for Dr Fayemi now that he has been able to expose his strident efforts and frustration at seeing that the road is mended or repaired right from 2019!
Gov Fayemi Replies On Minister’s Visit
Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi today reacted to the recent visit of the Minister of State for Transport, Prince Ademola Adegoroye, to the Minister of Works, Mr Babatunde Fashola, regarding the abandoned Ikerre/Akure road.
The governor wrote, “I have spent the last three years on the subject of this road and finally got them to award the dualisation in November 2019 at the cost of N30b. To date, the contractor has only received N2b. I then received funding from the Afdb for the road through Adesina, and the FG refused to cede the road to Ondo and Ekiti States, threatening that there would be no refund if we proceeded with the project and altered their road. In the end, we transferred the money to them and even helped them follow up with AfDB. Up till now, they can’t access the money because they have refused to follow AfDB procurement standards. I got them to put in Sukuk money, but the contractor can’t access it. We are now pursuing NNPC to include the road in their new tax credit roads they are funding but we are still on it. There’s no month that Fashola and I do not speak about this road for the past three years. It has even caused friction between the two of us. If we had been given clearance to do the road and toll it, we offered to do that but the FG refused. I wish Demola luck on his new venture. Senator Alasoadura did the same and even cried at the FEC regarding the road. Maybe he will Succeed where we have not.”
Now those who mocked him on this should ask for forgiveness. Those who thought ill of him because of this road can offload their mind off him. Those who are using this singular road as their benchmark of accomplishment for him should be sorry for themselves.
And whoever is using this to judge Governor Fayemi is not only mischievous but grossly malicious.
Thank God the albatross is off his neck. This serves as yet another reminder of the pressing need for national restructuring.
Okun oo John Kayode Fayemi.
Well done. God bless you.
*Ojo-Lanre is from Ibipeju Oniru Chambers, Irede Estate, Upper Ogudu River, Temidire, Usi-Ekiti – 08033490986.
