The economic transformation taking shape in Ekiti State under the outgoing Governor of Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi, is truly unprecedented.
This transformation is hinged on critical game changers. These are the public driven Knowledge Economy Zone and Cargo Airport on the one hand, and the private driven Afe Babalola Multi-System Hospital and Afe Babalola Industrial Park (both in Ado-Ekiti) on the other.
It’s important to bring to the fore these four economic entities, three of which are still new, to the attention of the state’s diasporic indigenes (both internal and external) in view of the modern manpower and the technological substructures that are required to drive these entities.
There are some ingredients that are of critical importance to the state’s economic transformation currently underway that I strongly believe the state’s diasporic indigenes are in good stead to supply by virtue of their global citizenship which predisposes them to these all-important ingredients.
These are, but not limited to Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Fintech, International Best Practices, International Finance, International connections/friendships, knowledge of and conversance with ‘idle funds’ as well as personal net worth. These, to a very considerable extent, either individually or in combination, are what must necessarily provide the required taste to the state’s Knowledge Economy Zone, the Cargo Airport, ABUAD Multi-System Hospital, and ABUAD Industrial Park.
In a world economy now driven largely, if not almost entirely, by technology, it behoves a society that has found itself behind the 8th ball of the modern, global economy but is desirous of catching up, or least stay in close proximity with the rest of the modern world, to find a way to short circuit its developmental trajectory by way of making Knowledge Economy its fundamental objective and directive principle of its economic policy. And this is what Ekiti State is trying to do under Gov. Fayemi with the Knowledge Economy Zone and the airport.
It is instructive that some companies have not only expressed interest in setting up branches and subsidiaries in the Knowledge Zone, but have gone a notch further to building the needed infrastructures for their use.
The Chinese, it should be made known, have already registered their presence in the Knowledge Zone with their Gamma Irradiation facility to start with.
There’s also the Space Satellite facility by the country’s Ministry of Defence. A SUBEB model school has already been built to provide the education needs of the wards of the staff that would be domiciled in the Zone at the primary level. Ekiti indigenes in the diaspora can complement this primary education learning facility with a state-of-the-art secondary education learning institution. What’s more, and as the name implies, the Knowledge Zone is a natural habitat for technology companies.
There are Ekiti Diaspora indigenes who are doing well in the burgeoning tech industry around the world. One of these companies is Alluvium which is owned by two young Ekiti tech geeks in the diaspora. This company recently graduated a bunch of “whiz kids,” most of them from other states. Alluvium’s goal, it should be stated, is to make Ado-Ekiti one of Nigeria’s Tech Hubs just like Bangaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad or Delhi in India or Silicon Valley in the State of California in the United States, so that young Nigerians can be globally competitive because the future of technology is now. This goal is achievable considering the relatively high literacy rate among Ekiti youths. The state just needs to extend to companies such as this.
The economic opportunities for Ekiti indigenes in the diaspora are actually limitless in the state’s Knowledge Zone especially. They (Ekiti Diaspora) can rightly be considered, based on one’s experience as a former governor’s aide on Diaspora Affairs, as the proverbial “low hanging fruits” of the state’s developmental initiatives not only because of their passion for the state, but their readiness to give back to their communities which, by extension, is also giving back to the state. They just need to be encouraged through specifically targeted policies and programmes of the state.
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Not much needs to be said about the existence of an airport in a state because of its inherent economic multiplier effects that must, of necessity, accrue to the state in which it is situated. The cargo airport is bound, without a doubt, to spur economic growth in the state. It will open the state to the international community. As a cargo airport, it is strategically being positioned to play a major role in the emerging mechanised agriculture that our diaspora is beginning to have interest in. For example, production outputs of Ikun Dairy Farm located in Ikun Amure Ekiti, which was brought out of coma by Gov. Fayemi, would significantly increase. The governor will open this cargo airport before he leaves office next month.
The Afe Babalola Multi-System Hospital is among the world’s best hospitals with its state-of-the-art equipment, some of which cannot be found in some hospitals in the developed countries. Unfortunately, this hospital is underutilised. Our diaspora medical professionals, either individually or collectively, can have working relationships with this hospital where they can have, for instance, annual or bi-annual medical missions or medical fiestas.
This initiative would attract health-conscious Nigerians from around the country, if not the West African subregion, to the state, if well-advertised, thereby creating wealth and jobs for the state. This hospital can also be a veritable training ground for medical students from at least the southwest region for impartation of modern medical knowledge and practices, thereby building the sorely needed capacity in the medical professions.
The ABUAD Industrial Park, very close to the university and under construction, is going to be a fantastic economic booster and a big game changer for the state when it is finally running full steam. The ABUAD Industrial Park will no doubt redefine the concept of industrial park in Nigeria because there are no half measures when it comes to how Chief Afe Babalola does his things.
Perhaps the citing of ABUAD industrial park may not be unconnected with the youthful workforce and the high literacy rate in Ekiti State. The state has approximately 3 million population, 60 percent of whom are youths. The state has about 85 percent adult literacy and 95 percent youth literacy levels which are considered to be the highest in the country. This is a mouthwatering, easy-to-train workforce that any astute investor cannot afford to ignore. What’s more, the state is in the top 3 bracket in academic per capita among the 36 states in the country.
The Park itself is about 1.9 km long. It will consist of 121 factories of small, medium and large categories when completed. It has been sectioned into industrial concerns such as food processing, fruits and beverages production, manufacturing of drugs and other pharmaceuticals, light tools and equipment, building materials manufacturing and so on.
The foundations for nine factories have already been laid and construction work has started in those factories namely: Pounded Yam and Cassava Processing, Starch, Fufu and Gari processing, Pepper Drying, Rice Mill, Herbal Syrup and Capsule, Recycling and Intravenous Infusion. There will be uninterrupted 24/7 power and water supply as 74 hectares of land has already been earmarked for an Independent Power Plant (IPP). The staff canteen and conference room are under construction. The aforementioned are just a few of the possibilities waiting to be tapped by our global citizens.
These are pillars upon which the economic transformation of the state will probably be anchored into the foreseeable future. It’s now up to the state’s upwardly mobile diaspora indigenes who are fond of calling Ekiti their own ‘Little Jerusalem’ to step up to the plate and actualise this concept. After all, people have the capacity and capability to create the kind of environment they want. It only takes deliberate and consistent steps. It’s a vision thing!
- Odere is a former Senior Special Assistant (Diaspora Affairs) to Ekiti State Governor