Text of the Address by His Excellency Dr. Kayode Fayemi, CON Governor, Ekiti State, Nigeria in COMMEMORATION OF THE NEW YEAR 2020 at Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State, Wednesday, January 1, 2020

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Text of the Address by
His Excellency
Dr. Kayode Fayemi, CON
Governor, Ekiti State, Nigeria
in
COMMEMORATION OF THE NEW YEAR 2020
at
Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State
Wednesday, January 1, 2020
1. Ekiti-kete, I am most delighted to rejoice with you this morning and
joyfully welcome you to this new dawn. The dawn of a new year and the
beginning of new accomplishments.
2. First, let us thank God for His grace and benevolence over us as a people,
state and government. The outgone year, 2019, was far better than the
year before it, 2018, and all indices point to the fact that this New Year,
2020, promises to be more eventful and glorious than the previous year.
We, therefore, have many reasons to appreciate God Almighty.
3. Exactly a year ago, specifically on January 1st 2019, I addressed and
assured you that as a new government, we have mapped out various
short, medium and long term interventions to bring succour to our people
and restore lost values and dignity. Without being immodest and with all
sense of humility, I make bold
4. to tell Ekiti kete that we have kept our words.

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5. To the glory of God, Ekiti is fully back in the leadership of the comity of
States and we are making deliberate and concerted efforts to build the
state of our dreams. We are indeed walking the talk in the best interest of
Ekiti-kete by judiciously implementing life changing programmes and
projects. We are guided by the 5-point cardinal programmes of this
administration, which are: Enhancing good Governance, entrenching
Social Investments, promoting Knowledge Economy, Infrastructure and
Industrial Development, and Agriculture and Rural Development.
GOVERNANCE
6. As a government we are conscious of our obligations to the public service
and Ekiti-kete in general. We doubled our efforts at redefining good
governance in Ekiti State by restructuring, strengthening and
empowering the public service to function more effectively. With the new
set of Commissioners and Special Advisers, we reviewed governance in
the State and agreed on our agenda for development. Each
Ministry/Department/Agency then agreed on a performance evaluation
template with the Governor to be monitored by the Office of
Transformation, Strategy and Delivery. The year 2019 was definitely
better than the previous year for our public servants. Their salaries were
regular and they could plan their lives in a more productive manner. Over
1000 retired public servants collected their gratuity both in the State and
Local Government Service in 2019 as we increased monthly Gratuity to
#100m from #10m in the previous administration. Our ultimate aim is to
ensure that all retirees receive their gratuity shortly after retirement. We
started paying the new minimum wage in October 2019 and I promise
Ekiti kete that this will extend to all categories of workers beyond grade
level 6 as soon as the current negotiation on consequential adjustment is
completed. In our deliberate effort to improve service delivery in Ekiti
State and to strengthen the public service, we are injecting about three
thousand (3,000) fresh minds into the public service – teachers, health
workers and civil servants. We are doing this, not because of any

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significant improvement yet in the income accruable to Ekiti State, but
because we owe a duty of making life easier and more meaningful for our
people.
SOCIAL INVESTMENTS
7. We are mindful of the fact that a healthy, motivated and socially secured
people are the greatest assets of any state. In pursuit of this, we have
successfully revived and strengthened all sectors of our social
investments to serve the best interest of Ekiti-kete. Our social investment
scheme has been restructured and expanded to function on a more
sustainable and larger scale. There is Owo-arugbo and also Ounje-Arugbo
which is the brainchild of the wife of the Governor, Erelu Bisi Fayemi. We
are also continuing our partnership with the Federal Government on the
Home Grown School Feeding programme, N-Power programme, Market/
Trader Moni for SMEs, AGSMEIS in addition to our Free Education
programme up to SSS III which include payment of WAEC examination
and grant in aid to schools and our free health programme for the
vulnerable segments of our population. Ekiti remains a leader in
immunisation in the country as we seek to extend universal basic health
care provision across the State via our health insurance scheme. There is
something for everybody now within our social investment platforms.
KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY
8. Education is one of the identified areas that needed urgent and
immediate attention when we assumed office. So far, we have taken
concrete steps to return good and qualitative education to its place of
glory in Ekiti State by eliminating fees in our primary and secondary
schools, improving infrastructure, providing teaching aids, employing
more teachers and improving teachers’ welfare and conditions of service.
We are upgrading Ekiti State Technical Colleges to global standard with
the support of the World Bank to boost technical education. We have also
been religious with the prompt and regular payment of subventions to all

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our tertiary institutions and we graduated our first set of Medical Doctors
in 2019. Equally, the White Papers on the Visitation Panels set up for our
tertiary institutions are being implemented with the aim of improving
quality and enhance the smooth running of the institutuions. We are
poised to build and improve on these successes. The essence of our
knowledge economy focus is to establish a direct causal link between
knowledge production and wealth creation. Our partnership with a range
of development and scholarly institutions is poised to turn Ekiti State and
its knowledge assets into a Smart State for the attainment of a productive
knowledge economy.
INFRASTRUCTURE & INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT
9. We are working assiduously to resuscitate our moribund investments
through Public Private Partnership (PPP) and also attract fresh
investments. As a government, we are stepping up our efforts to bridge
the huge infrastructural gaps to facilitate industrial development in Ekiti
State. As of today, most of the economically viable but hitherto
abandoned projects are being brought back to life. I am equally assuring
you that all the ongoing and new projects for 2020 will receive adequate
attention to ensure delivery within the stipulated time. On Monday,
January 13, 2020, I shall flag off four major roads that are critical to
industrial + agricultural development - Oye-Ikun-Otun, Aramoko-
Erinjiyan – Ikogosi, Agbado – Isinbode-Omuo and Ilupeju-Ire-Igbemo
roads. This is in addition to the on-gong work on the Ado New Iyin Road,
repairs in Ado township and commencement of the Ado Ekiti Ring Road,
the Ado Ekiti Agro-Airport and repairs of other critical arteries in the
State. The year 2020 budget of deliverables bears eloquent testimonies to
our deliberate and honest quest at providing good road network and
improving the enabling environment for business concerns in Ekiti State.
On water, work is almost nearing completion on Ero and Egbe Dam
rehabilitation and additional work will commence on Ureje and Itapaji
Dams. Equally, pipelines conveying the water to various homes are

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currently being installed and water meters will follow suit apace with
other water sector improvements. We are confident that the State will
witness a comprehensive return to the supply of pipe borne water and a
reduction in water borne diseases.
10. On power, we know this remains a challenge for our population.
Whilst we are working with BEDC on the improvement of supply and
distribution of electricity in the State, we are also working on a more
permanent solution with the support of AfDB towards the improvement
of transmission and the generation of independent power in the State via
renewable vehicles. These are all tailored towards the enhancement of
our infrastructural and industrial development in ensuring that Ekiti
becomes a destination of choice for investments.
AGRICULTURE & RURAL DEVELOPMENT
11. It is a known fact that we are blessed with grossly underutilized
arable land. As a government, we are working on how best to explore
these untapped God given natural resources and maximize the potential
through the promotion and sustenance of agribusiness and solid mineral
development as the mainstay of our economy. We are on course to lifting
Ekiti people out of poverty to the path of prosperity by empowering our
farmers and entrepreneurs in the agriculture, solid minerals value chain.
Already, Promasidor Nigeria Limited has effectively taken over Ikun
Dairy Farm to enhance the maximization of its full potential in a public
private partnership. We have also restructured and expanded our rice
and cassava programmes through partnership with key private sector
players like Dangote Farms, Jumlar Rice Limited and Stallion Rice who
are all setting up rice mills in the State in 2020 and a number of cassava
mills are also coming up – Promise Point, FMS Farms and Krest Farms are
pioneers here. More brownfield and greenfield investments in
agribusiness are being planned in palm oil and cocoa sector, and we are
sure they will manifest in year 2020. In addition, we are embarking on the

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construction of one thousand (1,000) kilometres of rural roads to aid and
enhance agribusiness in Ekiti State with the support of the World Bank
Assisted RAAMP initiative. As a government, we have set ourselves
ambitious targets. Our vision is to grow agribusiness; improve the value
chain; open farm to market access roads; and invest in youth
participation in the sector.
2019 HIGHLIGHTS
12. The outgone year 2019 significantly re-established our
determination, as a government, to improve the lives of our people and
restore their confidence in the desirability of government to fulfil
promises.
13. For the first time in many years, Ekiti State budget was signed into
law in December, beckoning the expeditious and expedient execution of
our budget effectively from today, January 1st. We have successfully
restored normalcy to our budgeting process and we promise to sustain
this global best practice.
14. Just yesterday, I inaugurated the elected chairmen of our various
Local Government Areas to strengthen good governance and deepen
democracy at the grassroots. Our newly elected leaders have been given
the marching orders to deepen the connection with the grassroots and
improve community and rural development.
15. Indeed, the year 2019 was significantly remarkable in many ways.
We recorded uncountable visible successes and experienced few hitches.
A significant hiccup was the negative impacts of the raining season on our
infrastructures. As a government we reacted to the negative impact with
immediate palliative measures but permanent solutions to the identified
problems have been captured in this year 2020 budget of deliverables. In
this regard, we successfully won the bid to participate in the multi billion,
World Bank supported, NEWMAP for erosion control and watershed

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management and we are also focussing our energy on improving a range
of climate action initiatives on the environment in the State.
SECURITY
16. The primary assignment of every responsible government is the
security of lives and property of the citizenry. I have personally kept a
close watch on the security situation within and around Ekiti State, and I
can assure you that as a government, we are leaving no stone unturned to
ensure safety of lives and property in our dear State. Ekiti remains one of
the safest places to live, work and conduct business in Nigeria. The fact
remains, however, that criminality cannot be totally eradicated even as
we are working meticulously at reducing it to the barest minimum in
Ekiti State, and the evidence is there for all to see and acknowledge that
we are making steady progress. Since we are not an Island, we are also
working with neigbouring States to strengthen our security architecture.
On January 9, 2020, the Western Nigeria Security Network known as
Amotekun shall commence operations in all the six States in our zone and
Ekiti is very active in this initiative which will go a long way in securing
the people and protecting the State.
17. Henceforth, I urge our community leaders or groups not to allow
themselves to be used to spread fake or unsubstantiated news with a
view to setting the residents against themselves or destabilizing the
peace of the state. We must encourage our people to report any strange
signal or incident, but we must resist the temptation to resort to self-help
at any time.
18. I enjoin you all to stay calm and hopeful as we build on the moderate
but visible success so far recorded after restructuring our security
architecture. I urge you to have faith in the ability of the government to
secure your lives and property, and avoid any action that can trigger
unnecessary and avoidable rancour amongst our people.

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CONCLUSION
19. Ekiti-kete, the journey to restore our value, dignity and honour as a
people continues, and we are not distracted as we soldier on. We are
resolved to build a state in which the resources are utilized for the benefit
of all. We are on this mission together, and I assure you of our firm
commitment to the ideals of a safe, secure and prosperous Ekiti State. The
resources may be limited, but our resourcefulness and creativity are
unlimited.
20. I am grateful to Ekiti-kete, at home and in the diaspora, and all well-
wishers of our government for their belief in our capacity to turn the tide,
albeit positively, for the generality of the people. I sincerely appreciate
your support and collaboration in year 2019, and look forward to same in
2020, and beyond, even as I hope you will intensify your prayers, support,
encouragement, criticism and suggestions to enhance our performance.
In all this, I also encourage all to join us in our quest to block all leakages
and improve on the internally generated revenue in the State.
21. I can assure you all that we are making steady, visible and
sustainable progress in all areas as we move from potentials to
actualization. This year promises to be better as we are set to witness
rapid improvement on our infrastructures to accelerate our economic
recovery and make life more meaningful and comfortable for our people.
We are hitting the ground running immediately with the inauguration of
laudable projects in the next few days. Please come along, as we jointly
actualize the Ekiti State of our dreams. Happy new year to you all. May
the year bring bountiful blessings to us all.
22. Ashe yi, sh’amodun o. Ekiti a gbe kete ra o!
Dr. Kayode Fayemi, CON

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Governor.