By Precious Oham
Ekiti State Governor, Biodun Oyebanji has declared that he is for everybody and the support of the opposition in the state for his administration is unconditional.
Speaking with Journalists in Ado-Ekiti, Governor Oyebanji noted that his administration is hinged on trust to the people of the state to deliver the dividends of democracy irrespective of their political affiliations.
The governor reiterated his commitment to the implementation of the six pillars of his government in accordance with the state development plan and the 2024 budget.
Oyebanji stated that plans are underway to establish three cassava processing factories in the state to boost the economy of the state and engage the young people into agriculture for improved outputs by acre rage.
He pledged to run an inclusive government where every government appointee will be more loyal to the people and work for the interest of the citizens and not to build structures for himself.
In sports, the governor said that an indoor sports complex will be erected to encourage athletes in the state adding that sports is a business that will be utilised to create wealth and the grow the economy.
His words: “As a government, we have a contract with the people of Ekiti state and we promised ourselves that we will work for them and work with them. We made certain promises to them and for the past few months, we have ensured that those promises are kept.
“Even if those promises come at a cost, it requires self-discipline, a lot of concentration, a lot of consultation and a lot of what I will call a stable and compassionate policy from the government. It also requires a lot of tactics and strategies and we have tried as much as possible to ensure that we are truthful to Ekiti people.
“We believe that trust is very key to governance. So, the first mark I set for myself is that I need to earn the trust of Ekiti People because if you are going to take them on a journey of four years, they must trust me to the point that they will follow me to that expected end and we have tried to do that.
“With respect to buying the opposition, it is not correct. What we have done is to ensure that we are running an inclusive government and we are communicating with everybody including the opposition. Election stopped the day I was sworn in as governor of Ekiti State.
“I don’t see myself as governor of APC, I am the Governor of everybody in Ekiti State and I relate with all of them as Ekiti indigenes. So, politics has stopped, we are in the realm of governance and governance tells me that I have to be responsible to both my party members and people who didn’t even vote for me.
“There are a lot of Ekiti People who don’t even belong to any political party, I am also responsible to them. So, before I assumed office, I visited every of our leaders in the state across political divides because I believe strongly that I need all of them, I need to learn from them, I also need to take feedback from them and we had useful discussions with leaders of my party, those that are non-political and those that belong to the opposition.
“And every time I go to them, I take note of whatever they tell me and when I have issues, because I have established that relationship, I can call them and ask for advice and all of them have been advising me. So, that may be responsible for the feedback you are getting in town, I have not bought anybody, all the support have been unconditional and none of them has asked me for any favour and that is the truth.
“So, you need to identify the challenges first, the challenges we have faced in agric is we have left the players in the agric sector to themselves. There is absence of extended service, government doesn’t see agric as business, so the players in that sector don’t believe but they don’t think that they can create wealth. So, they are abandoning that sector.
“We are bringing young people back into the sector because the farming population is aged and these are people that are used to the old ways of doing things. We are now attracting youths into the agric space through a lot of strategies and government is handholding them. We are preparing the lands for them, we develop the land, we clear land for them, we subsidise tractors, we give them improved seedlings that will give much outputs by acre rage.
“We are doing a lot with Cassava in the state, and very soon now, we have three cassava processing factories in the state. The challenge is electricity and we are bringing electricity from Eruku to Iyemero, that is our special agric processing zone.
“Work is going on as I speak to you, once we connect that, there is already a company that has been set up for the past three years but could not work because of lack of electricity and security, so, we are tackling those challenges and very soon, you will have Ekiti Product being branded for export.
“So, all the Commissioners appointed know that they came from their local governments. They are representatives of their respective local governments, so their loyalty is going to be to the people. I don’t want Commissioners that are loyal to me, I want Commissioners that are loyal to the people of Ekiti State because Government is about the people, it is not about an individual.
“I am not here to build structure for myself, the structure must be built to serve the people of Ekiti State because the state is larger than the Governor. So, what Ekiti people should expect in the next three years is a faithful implementation of our six pillars in accordance with the Ekiti State development plan and in accordance with the 2024 budget.
“So, Ekiti people should expect new capital project, improvement in the living conditions of the people, those in formal sector should expect government support for the informal sector and same for private sector and they should look forward to the establishment of industries in the state.
“Also, we are going to put a lot of emphasis on clean environment to ensure that we clean our environment, we put emphasis on the art, culture and tourism and also, we attack unemployment and insecurity in the state.
“This year’s budget, we have put in place the construction of indoor sports complex, we are going to do that, it’s in the budget and we will equip it and provide the tools for them to train but when you provide the tools for them to train too, they must also be resourced so that they can concentrate, so the two will go together.
“But I will wait for the advice of the professionals because we all need to crowd fund it, get private sectors to play in this so that they can support whatever government is giving because sports itself is a business, a big business if properly structured and that is what we want to do.”