Date Published: 09/30/11

State-Wide Broadcast by the Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi on the occasion of Nigeria's 51st Independence Anniversary and 15th Anniversary of the creation of Ekiti State on 1st October, 2011

Kayode Fayemi

My Good people of Ekiti State

At midnight on 1 st October 1960, Nigeria became a free nation with privileges of sovereignty and self determination. The people were understandably ecstatic in their new found freedom as paraphernalia of slavery and oppression represented in the vistas of colonialism gave way to the emergent institutions of independence. Freedom is indeed sweet.

Fifty one years after, God has kept the nation as an indivisible entity in spite of many challenges that almost brought her to her knees in her chequered history. We would all recall the 30 months fratricidal civil war that engulfed the country soon after independence; frequent and violent changes of government over the years and often-echoed ineffective management of our national resources among other challenges of nationhood that Nigeria has had to grapple with. In all these and at every twist of event, Nigeria has come out more determined to forge ahead even as some continue to predict the demise of this great country.

October 1st is not only a milestone for Nigeria as a country, it is much more so for Ekiti which is also today celebrating her 15 th Anniversary of creation. The attainment of self-government within the federation of Nigeria by the Ekiti people did not come cheaply. Traditional rulers, intelligentsia, community and religious leaders both at home and abroad among others were at the forefront of the vanguard for the realization of the age long dream. Today, we are celebrating the victory of the war, fought not on the battlefield. I salute the Ekitis on the joy of today which goes down in history as a remembrance of a day of liberation as we now put our fate in our hands and determine the place of our future. It is however worth recalling the only other day of equal significance – the day when Kiriji war ended, September 23 rd, 1886 when armistice was reached after the internecine war between Ekiti and Ibadan. In recalling the end of that historic war, we celebrate the values of resistance against oppression, unity and courage of conviction, valour, honour and a rich history of a determined people.

As we savour the sweetness of the invaluable victory, we have to soberly reflect on the journey so far. We have no doubt kept the spirit of oneness as a homogeneous people, united by force of character and indivisible by the core values of integrity, hard work, candour, honour, determination, honesty and mutual respect. We are a proud people of a culture knitted together by unquenchable ethos of high resistance to oppression and injustice and a determined quest for knowledge. Among all the peoples inside and outside Nigeria, these are our common identity, the seal of our very existence. It is the Ekiti secret. United, totally committed and never quitting, we, the people of Ekiti can achieve whatever we set our mind upon. As David Hinderer, the Colonial Missionary noted way back in 1855, “Ekiti people love their liberty and have been known in the hour of extremity to choose death rather than life of slavery.”

Even as we believe in the sanctity of life, we cannot pretend that these core values are not being eroded by elements that are strange to what we are known for as a people over the ages. As this erosion is dangerously permeating the very fabric of our entire being, we as a people cannot but feel the shocking realization that this is also taking a toll on the state that was gallantly fought for. This we have to resist on all fronts as our fathers did during the Ekiti parapo wars.

However, as we celebrate today, I bring to you, my good people of Ekiti State, the message of hope and assurance of a better tomorrow. Without being immodest, this government has consciously studied our common problems and come up with a practicable roadmap to the overall development of the state as espoused in our 8 point transformational Agenda. The contract that this government signed with the Ekiti people at inauguration is to provide abundant life across the nooks and crannies of the land. We have tried to live up to your huge expectation but must admit that clearing the debris of many years of bad governance has taken a much longer time than we envisaged. But ours remain a determined quest to improve the lot of our people. With purposeful leadership in the driving seat and a cooperative populace, success is bound to be ours.

It is for this reason that we consider this day a day of celebration in many ways. First, it is our day of independence as a country, it is also our creation day as a full-fledged state as well as the International Day of the Elderly as declared by the United Nations. Let me speak a bit more about the elderly. The plight of the elderly has been of concern to many in our various communities. As Ekiti, old age is a thing worthy of celebration. Unfortunately, the near collapse of our social capital popularly known as extended family system has exposed many of our elderly ones to poorly and indigent circumstances. As a consequence of the above and in line with our campaign promise to establish a social security support scheme for the elderly, I am delighted to announce that with effect from this month, October 2011, every adult of Sixty Five Years of age and above who is not currently a beneficiary of pension or of clear evidence of being taken care of by family, shall be entitled to a monthly social security benefit of N5,000.00. This is in addition to the free health care that this category of our vulnerable people already enjoys. It is our expectation that this would further prolong the lives of our elderly in a state that is currently enjoying the highest life expectancy in the entire country.

Our agenda, when we started, was to rescue Ekiti from the pangs and pains of poverty – tackling want, creating wealth and restoring the dignity of the Ekiti person – culminating in an enriched state where poverty is history. We want to earn the support of our people by delivering all our promises, but first we are determined to earn your trust with candour, honesty and confidence building measures when we highlight current challenges in the same breadth that we talk about future possibilities.

Yet, on a day of celebration like this, one of the key ways of ensuring our people’s trust is not to overawe them with the enormity of the challenges before us. However, it is also not right to leave you with the impression that all is well with us. What we can at least do is to reassure our people that in spite of current challenges, all certainly will be well in the foreseeable future. It is a common knowledge that Ekiti is at the rung of the revenue allocation ladder across the federation. This, rather than being a source of worry, I believe, should bring out the ingenuity in us in view of our God given endowment of creativity and innovation to make a turnaround in our fortunes. We have what it takes to change our story of insufficiency and want. This reorientation has already begun. This is why this administration is vigorously pursuing the policies of citizens’ self-actualization through the Youth Volunteers Corps and Life Academies. This is clearly being replicated in other areas of governance. We also believe it is time to project ourselves more in the comity of states by insisting that the time for Ekiti to excel has indeed come even as the challenges remain daunting.

I call on all compatriots to join hands to make Ekiti the state of our dream. I am indeed encouraged by the determination of our people in the Diaspora to lift Ekiti up as a state with series of interventions. Our meetings with them inside and outside Nigeria have further emboldened me to assert with certainty that our glorious brightness at the end of the tunnel is closer than some of us can imagine. Let us convert our core values and enormous intellectual capabilities to actual change and movement, palpable projects and structures and significant improvements in the quality of lives of our people.

This government would continue to encourage our communities to harp on their areas of strength for the state to enjoy the benefits of comparative advantage in our drive towards socio-economic sufficiency.

I congratulate all Nigerians and particularly Ekitis for this anniversary celebration and wish you all more prosperous future celebrations.

Thank you and God bless. Ori ile Ekiti a gbe a o!