X-raying his one year in office, the governor of Ekiti state, Mr Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji, in an interview with journalists bares his mind on some of key issues of the six pillars of his administration. OJO OLADELE was there
The majority opinion is, so far, you have done well, and no much dissenting voice against your government. Is it true you have bought opposition over as the people are saying?
Thank you so much for this question, it is a good feedback. I believe that the best assessment of any government is by the people and if it is coming from the Journalists, that tells me that it is a position that one has to take seriously. 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. So, if this is the feedback, well, I give God all the glory but I also know that it is too early in the day for us to rest on our oars. So, the reward for hard work is more work.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.
People are of the opinion that Ekiti state has not utilised the potentials of Igbemo Rice in boosting its revenue like its Ogun state counterpart. What’s your take on this?
That is a correct assertion and it is not also correct. Our strategy in the agricultural sector is to see agric as a business itself. We want to put in place strategies and tactics that will allow players in that sector to also create wealth and be prosperous. So, we are transiting from subsistence farming to agribusiness. And because we are shifting focus from what used to be, it’s going to take a lot of communication and a lot of consultation with all the sectors in the agric value chain. It is not only in Igbemo rice we are going to do this, we will do this across the value chain of grains, tree crops, root crops and everything. The most important thing in agriculture is fairness, it has to do with the mechanics of the agric itself, the quality of seedlings, availability of good input and land development. So, you need to identify the challenges first, the challenge 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 may have lost them in fairness, in terms of bringing technology and science into agric itself. So, we had a programme from Governor Kayode Fayemi that we call “Youth In Commercial Agriculture Development”. We are now attracting the youth 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 subsidize tractors, we give them improved seedlings that will give much outputs by acres.
Because when we look at all the numbers, we have not done well with our output by acreage across the south west and it is unacceptable to us. And it is not because this people are not doing well but because they don’t have access to relevant farm implements, good seedlings, no advice from the Ministry. I have just given approval for the employment of extension officers and there are security challenges. So, we are addressing everything across agric value chain and when you do that also, you have to connect them to off takers because when you solve the production side of the agriculture, you also have to look at the marketing side to ensure that when they produce, there are off takers that will buy from them at a very good price.
We have started with what we call “The Ekiti Broilers Programme”. If you go to Erifun now, the facilities there have been renovated. We are building hostels for them, they are doing a lot of things there now, as I am speaking to you. It is a facility that has been abandoned for the past 30 years. We have done a pilot scheme, we got some of our graduates into broiler production there, we had an agreement with a farm that supply them day old chicken, they breed them, after six weeks, they sold; they made profits, they formed themselves into cooperative society, they save part of the money to cooperative society. We give them some money too, we now discover that we can scale it up. So, after six weeks, the same company that supplied the DOCs came and bought the broilers from them.
So, we solved the marketing problem, If farmers have access to market from the farm, they will sell at good prices and make good profits. So, you remove middle men because the challenge is that most of the profits go to the middlemen, they just go the farm and buy from them at ridiculous prices. So, it is attractive for them to go back again into the business and now that we have succeeded with this, we have scaled up to 40,000 because they did like 7,000. How? We moved to to Ikere, and partnered with the Benin Owena. We have taken over their facility in Ikere, we are going to renovate it, that place will do 40,000 broilers. Once that one is done, then we go to other sectors because we also need to know the crops where we have comparative advantage in the state. Our study is going on in respect to that and once I get the report because that will tell us where to put more focus. 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.
Why are people saying you are afraid to take decisions when it matters most?
I am a product of a system, I ran on the platform of a political party and when I went to canvass for their votes during primaries, I made certain promises to them based on the feedbacks we got from party members. There were complaints then, that the party was not involved in a lot of things and I told them that I will return the party back to the leaders. I made that promise to them and I don’t think it will be right for me to assume the seat of governorship and renege on that promise. I believe in the supremacy of the party, I believe that the party knows everybody because we gave them certain parameters to follow in fairness. There are certain conditions I gave to the committee when I inaugurated it, that they must be competent, compassionate, they must be people that can run with the vision, understanding the pillars of the administration. So, they have certain benchmarks and the reason I did that was because I want Commissioners that are in constant touch with their localities. As a leader, it is good to think global, but it is better to act local because we are products of this environment.
So, at the end of the day, they submitted their recommendations to me, they recommended three names because the committee went round the state for eight weeks collecting CVs, interviewing them and don’t forget that the committee was headed by a retired permanent secretary, Baba George Akosile and we had the likes of former deputy governor, Prof Modupe Adelabu on that committee. Members of that committee are experienced people and I don’t believe that the leader is necessarily the person that knows everything, the leader is someone that can put together smarter team to guide him in taking a decision.
So, I believe strongly in their ability and capacity to do that. It is not that I shy away from it, I just wanted to test another approach to doing things, I don’t believe that being the Governor of the State confer monopoly of knowledge on me, I don’t believe in it. But at the end of the day, it was my decision because out of the three names sent, I still have to pick one. I must confess, the day we did swearing in for them, you will realise that our people are taking ownership of it. 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. For the chairmanship primaries, as the leader of the party, I don’t think I should have a favourite candidate and the chairmanship position belongs to the local government because that is the closest level of government to the people. I don’t want local government chairmen that will be loyal to me as governor of Ekiti state, I have sat on this seat for close to one year and I have realised that if you are on that seat and you are not compassionate, you don’t love the people, you can use that seat to destroy lives.
So, I wanted Chairmen of Local governments that will hold their allegiance to their people not to me. If I sit down here and I just appoint Chairmen for local government and LCDAs, their loyalty will be to me, not to the people and that will not be good for our people. So, that is the reason I have decided to democratise the choice of political appointments. And so far, I think it resonates well with the party people because the leadership also consulted with traditional rulers, opinion molders in the state and local governments before they came up with the names. I can assure you that I didn’t get involved in any of them and I am okay with that. 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.
How has the finances the finances of Ekiti state been, especially, the monthly allocations from the Federal Government as well as the state’s debt profile?
Well, as respect to what I met on ground, there is no state that will not be indebted but the question is what are the debts spent on? So, a state owing money is not an offence but what do you owe money for? There are a lot of capital projects going on in the state. We know that the state resources may not be enough. It is even better for you to do all these things taking loan than to wait, because of the rate of inflation. And has there been manna falling from heaven? Well, there has been an improvement in what comes to the state in fairness. There has been a little improvement in what comes to us but what we have done, we have not done anything too serious. I see Ekiti state as a company, before I take any decision, I will ask myself that if this were to be my company, what will be the best decision for me to take? And you will realise that we have run an austerity government for the past one year and gradually, my aides have come to terms with my style of leadership.
My style of leadership is servant leadership, the people first. Let’s take care of them, we are here because of them. So, because of change in attitude to governance, we have reduced a lot of expenditure on recurrent. You know, we have stopped unnecessary workshop, frivolous seminars, traveling that will not add value to the state. I met with the rank and file of the civil service before I came on board and I begged them that when you receive all these circulars to workshops, ask yourselves that what value will this add to Ekiti state? And they found out themselves, they called themselves to order. As the Governor of this state, I have been here to close to a year, I have only travelled out once and it was free, UNDP sent me to Kigali.
Every month, I receive six to seven invitations to travel out but I ask myself, what value will this bring to Ekiti? If it’s not something that will add value, I drop it because I know that this seat has an expiry date, when I leave, will I be able to go home and sleep well? I also know, some of you may not agree with me that I will stand before God to give account one day. I believe in that. So, because we have been able to change the focus of governance, we will do more with little and we will continue to do more with little.We have not owed deductions, we have not owed salaries, yes, we take overdraft to pay salary a times.
We put 2.5 billion aside per month, to pay salaries because I don’t want to owe workers’ wages. We are dealing with gratuities arrears, we have paid CONHESS to local government staff, we have provided resources for local government to function, we have done that. I have spent a year in office, I have not bought any official car, I am still using the one left by my Predecessor.The first set of political appointees that I have worked for a year without official vehicles, but now that I have brought in additional members (my bosses), I need to make provision for vehicles for them. But as the governor, I have not bought a new vehicle and I don’t intend to buy as long as the ones I have are functional. I took them to Abuja, they helped me refurbish them and they look nice and I am good to go and it doesn’t make me a lesser Governor. I see service delivery as a definition of that seat.
I was elected to serve the people, so it is not about my convenience or comfort. I still believe that Leaders should make sacrifices and because I am conservative, most of my colleagues now, they will check themselves before they bring any frivolous file on my table because they know that you have to put the people forward.The question I ask myself is, the man selling boli outside, the Okada Riders, those in Erekesan Market, they are also partakers in the allocation that come to Ekiti. Because at the end of the day, it is Ekiti State and the money belong to everybody. So, government must play a policy that will also affect those people and I am responsible to them because those people put me to this job through their votes and I keep telling everybody that when they went out to vote for us, every vote carry the same value. The vote of the Governor, and the vote of the man riding Okada, same value. So, access to government opportunities should also be equal, those are the principles that drive me.
What should Ekiti people expect from you in the next three years?
We campaigned on the mantra of continuity and shared prosperity. Continuity of the programmes and policies of my predecessor in office which we have articulately adhered to in respect to the completion of some of the projects that he couldn’t complete while he was here and also you will recall that before he left office, we launched the Ekiti State 30-year Development Plan from 2020 to 2050; and our manifestoes are offshoot of the development plan.
The last budget was termed: ‘Budget of Strong Beginning’ and we named it so, so that we can put in place a very strong foundation for the prosperity of our people and now that the foundation has been laid, we have presented before the House of Assembly the budget of 2024 and the budget is to put the building blocks gradually for the foundation that has laid to dispense prosperity for our people. 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.
What will your administration do to stop indiscriminate dumping of refuse and to ensure that all structures on the waterways are removed?
Immediately we were sworn in, I told myself that we will reduce the impact of flood in Ekiti state because every year, people go through harrowing experiences because of flooding. So, immediately I assumed office, I called the government agency concerned to let me know those critical areas in Ado-Ekiti that are prone to flooding and as early as November, we started dredging, we couldn’t get to everywhere before the rain sets in and as at that time, NIMET has not even released the projection for the year. I did not know that Ekiti will be flagged red but we just started dredging and clearing the canals as part of my responsibility to my people. If we have not taken that proactive step, it would have been worse than this.
Like you said, there is a place we dredge along EKSU road very close to Ayemi Garage, we dredged it on a Monday and I went to inspect the road 8 days later. I went to check the canal dredged, and I marveled when I saw a quantum of refuse that water brought and the place was blocked. So, there is a connection between flooding and refuse disposal and illegal dumping of refuse everywhere.For us to enforce this, we have a responsibility as a government. Government must also make available refuse disposal bins for our people. I cannot ask you not to dump refuse on the street or in front of your houses if I don’t provide that, it’s the responsibility of state government and the local government. We have been interrogating this close to a year.
Two or three days ago, I had a meeting here with government agencies and all their LCDAs in Ado LG. They have one week to come back to me on their resolution and we have agreed on what we are going to do. If there is one area that I am not happy with, it is the indiscriminate dumping of refuse in Ado, I don’t like it at all. But I keep asking myself, if I don’t like it, are there alternatives for these people? No. if we provide alternatives and they don’t comply, we can now act.
So government will do its own very soon. I told the commissioners for Investment, Trade and industry as well as commissioner for Environment to sit down with the market women for the cleaning of the markets. We will roll out a comprehensive action plan in respect to waste management and flood control very soon but I agree with you, it is an area of challenge for me and we will tackle it, that is why we are here. But in doing this too, you have to be compassionate, we don’t want to inflict unnecessary pains on the people because the people are already stressed to a point.
