By Emmanuel Onwusoro.
Ekiti State Governor, Mr Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji, has been advised to sustain the impactful roadmap laid down by his predecessor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, having played his part and left the stage.
The monarch of Isaya-Ekiti, in Ekiti East local government area, Oba Matthew Ajayi Elejogun, gave the advice in an interview at his palace during the 21 Isaya Day Celebration.
He described Governor Oyebanji as a man of calibre that the traditional rulers understand having worked together with him before and during the agitation for the creation of Ekiti State. Oba Elejogun expressed the willingness of the traditional institution to work with the Governor to achieve his policies and programmes for the people.
He remarked that to achieve sustainable development, there is need for financial backing. According to the royal father, “this implies improving the economic base of Ekiti State and other allied areas that will put the State in a better stead of having some comparative advantage among the comity of States in Nigeria.
“I suggest the setting up of small and medium-scale industries in all the local government areas. This is because no community can progress without a basic economic sustainability. I want to remind the Governor that Ekiti has missed so many things before, because Ekiti as an agrarian State, many farm produce are wasting away, like in our local government here, Ekiti East”. He described the waste as enormous especially from other parts to Omuo-Ekiti, the local government headquarters, adding that the same situation applies to Ikole local government area.
Oba Elejogun maintained that even during the peak period of production”, at least twenty lorries loaded with farm produce are taking off from this our environment to the Northern part of Nigeria. If we had gotten yam storage and processing facilities at Isaya here, such waste would not occur”.
However, he told our reporter that such yam processing industry was sited at Isaya-Ekiti some years ago, and even got ninety percent completion, but past governments never allowed it to materialize. He pointed out that if such industry is being revived now, the youths will have jobs and the economy of the area will improve. “In Isaya here and Omuo, we have a lot of cassava production. This is wasting away in the farm. There’s no market for it. At a point the government wanted to establish garri processing industry in our area at Kota and Omuo axis”. The Kabiyesi explained that unfortunately this development became moribund because there was no continuity, admonishing that if small and medium scale industries are encouraged and sited in the area, the State’s economy will improve and this will translate to revenue generation.
“This local government is a boundary local government to other States, like Kogi and Ondo States. And there are lots of lorries passing through this place. There was a proposal for lorry garage at Omuooke, the people at Omuooke donated a very large land, fenced it, and the government did not show any political will for the taking off of the project. If we depend on allocations from the federal government or oil revenue, we cannot go anywhere. There is a lot of natural resources here, for instance, go to Ekiti West local government area, then go to Ilawe-Ekiti in Ekiti South West Local Government, you have banana and lots of plantain. Why can’t the government develop small industries in each local government for the people to get job?
He stressed that when the economy of the State improves, Ekiti will be among the leading States in the country, noting that food is very important to human life and and since Ekiti has good and abundant land, the people being very agile, they are ready to work for rural and economic development of the State. The traditional ruler believes the situation can still be managed, describing the new governor as a serious-minded person, he knows will listen to this and do something that will make people happy in each local government and Ekiti State in general.
On elevation of some traditional rulers in the State by the immediate past government, the monarch said Dr kayode Fayemi as the governor of the State then, did the right thing by upgrading those concerned, saying they deserved it. “The governor did very well. That is an encouragement. For instance, if you’re working in any place, be it government or private and you don’t get promotion, you won’t be happy. The governor promoting some monarchs is a welcome development. Those that were promoted merited it. So I give kudos to our past governor for doing that”.
Speaking on the celebration of Isaya Day, the Oba advised his subjects to always live in unity and love one another for the development of the community, while the youths should not get involved in crimes such as kidnapping, murder, cultism, robbery and other social vices, which he described as alien to the culture of the community. He urged them to engage in things that will afford them means of livelihood, such as tailoring, carpentry, welding, farming and others which according to him, they could operate in a modernized form with technology in vogue.