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Tag: Ekiti

  • South-West Expo Day 3

    South-West Expo Day 3

  • Ekiti PDP recalls secretary

    The suspended secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti State, Dr. Tope Aluko, has been recalled.

    In a statement yesterday, the party’s Chairman, Mr. Makanjuola Ogundipe, said Aluko is to resume duties with immediate effect.

    He said it was unanimously agreed by the State Working Committee at its weekly meeting that Aluko should be recalled.

  • Five communities get autonomy in Ekiti

    Five communities get autonomy in Ekiti

     

    Five communities in Ekiti State have been granted autonomy by the state government.

    The Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr. Olayinka Oyebode, said in a statement on Friday in Ado-Ekiti that the granting of the autonomy followed the completion of various judicial processes.

    He said the affected communities had earlier requested for approval of their requests through the House of Assembly and the State Executive Council.

    Oyebode said Ejiyan community gained autonomy from Ipoti-Ekiti in Ijero Local Government Area, and that Orun community also left Igbemo-Ekiti in Ijero Local Government Area.

    Others are Omuo Oke (Omuo-Ekiti in Ekiti East Local Government Area), Kota (Omuo-Ekiti, also in Ekiti East Local Government) and Ijaro (Iludun-Ekiti in Ilejemeje Local Government).

    “By their recognition, the five communities will now enjoy the status of autonomous communities, with recognised leadership structure in line with the laws of the state,” the News Agency of Nigeria quoted Oyebode as saying in the statement.

    It urged residents of the affected communities to ensure peace in their areas.

     

  • Why Fayemi deserves second term, by Ekiti ACN chair

    The Chairman of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Ekiti State, Chief Olajide Awe, has said Governor Kayode Fayemi was endorsed for a second term by party leaders because of his “unprecedented achievements” in two years.

    Speaking during a Channels Television programme, Politics Today, Awe said Fayemi has performed excellently in office.

    He said Ekiti people are now enjoying the dividends of democracy in all sectors of the economy.

    The ACN chair cited the building of roads, beautification of the state capital, renovation of public schools, tourism development, the payment of monthly stipends to senior citizens and the revival of moribund industries as some of the achievements of the Fayemi administration.

    He said within two years, Fayemi cleared the rot left behind by successive Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) administrations and restored public confidence in governance by implementing the ACN’s manifesto.

    Awe dismissed speculations in some quarters that the party would stop other aspirants from seeking its ticket.

    He said party leaders are backing Fayemi to encourage him to work harder to make Ekiti a reference point in Nigeria.

    Awe said: “The endorsement of the governor for a second term is not a new thing in politics. The man has performed well and the leaders are impressed with his performance, which is visible in all parts of the state.

    “Come to Ekiti State and see what Fayemi has done, for the first time in Nigeria, we have a government that is taking care of the aged; we are turning the state capital into a 21st Century city and workers are enjoying good welfare packages.

    “What he has done was not done by preceding administrations. The state is one of the most secured in the country. The Ire Burnt Bricks Industry, which was moribund for about 21 years, has been revived by Fayemi and he has attracted investment to the state.

    “We are not stopping other people from contesting, but with what we are witnessing in all nooks and crannies of the state, we believe this man is performing and we want the good performance to continue.”

    Awe dissociated the ACN from attacks on former Governor Ayo Fayose.

    He blamed the attacks on the various factions in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    The ACN chairman said: “Do not forget that the PDP in Ekiti is divided into three factions and if one faction is having a rally, the other factions can disrupt it.

    “The ACN is not to be blamed for the internal crisis in the PDP, it was the PDP that introduced violence, assassination and other vices into Ekiti politics.

    “Fayose is not a threat to us. This is a man who was impeached, scaled the fence of the Government House and ran away. What has he forgotten in the Government House that he wants to come back to take?”

     

     

     

  • Ekiti PDP sacks secretary for ‘anti-party’ activities

    Ekiti State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday suspended its Secretary, Dr Tope Aluko, for alleged anti-party activities.

    He was also accused of divulging official information to “outsiders”.

    A statement by the party’s Deputy Chairman and Publicity Secretary, Femi Bamisile and Pastor Kola Oluwawole in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, the suspension “would be for 30 days.”

    It is to enable the party to carry out “full investigations into all the allegations leveled against Aluko.”

    The decision, according to sources was taken at the State Working Committee meeting held yesterday.

    The party, according to the statement, said it acted in accordance with the provision of Section 59 Subsections 1 and 2 of its constitution.

    It was alleged that Aluko was “indulging in acts capable of denting the image of the party and put it into disrepute in the eyes of the right thinking members of the public.”

    Pastor Oluwawole said the party had an obligation to protect its image and instil discipline in members.

     

  • Ekiti seeks stronger ties with Ghana

    EKITI State Governor Kayode Fayemi yesterday spoke of his administration’s plan to seek closer political and socio-economic ties with the government of Ghana.

    The plan was unveiled in Fayemi’s goodwill message to Ghana’s President, Mr. John Dramani Mahama. It was made available to reporters in Ado-Ekiti by his Chief Press Secreytary (CPS), Mr. Yinka Oyebode.

    Fayemi was at the Black Star Square, Accra, Ghana to attend the inauguration of Mahama.

    Also at the inauguration were President Goodluck Jonathan, the National Leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd), Governors Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun) Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers) and Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom) and the National Chairman of the ACN, Chief Bisi Akande among others.

    The governor noted that the government and people of Ekiti State are proud to associate with Mahama, who holds a honorary doctorate degree from the state-owned varsity – Ekiti State University (EKSU), Ado-Ekiti.

    Fayemi expressed confidence that Ghana shall witness unprecedented peace, growth and development as Mahama begins his full term of office as president of the West African country.

    Describing Mahama as a “dear friend and comrade”, Fayemi assured the Ghanaian leader of the continued support of the government and people of Ekiti State as the two political entities look forward to mutually beneficial relationships.

    He said: “Indeed, the Ghanaians from all walks of life have demonstrated absolute confidence in the vision and leadership of President Mahama and have thus freely and transparently bequeathed their mandate on him as witnessed during the last general elections of December 2012.

    “This is consistent with the respect and admiration that those of us privileged to have a long-standing relationship with him have for him.

    “I am proud to be associated with President Mahama on this feat which signals the strengthening of democracy and good governance in the Republic of Ghana, a nation already established as a model for peaceful transitions in the region and indeed on the African continent.

    “As a recipient of the honorary doctorate degree in public administration from our state university, Ekiti is, indeed, very proud to be associated with the new Ghanaian President.

    “As a dear friend and comrade, I want to assure Mr President of our continued support and cooperation during his fresh tenure which starts today, even as I look forward to working with him in mutually beneficial relationships between Ekiti State, Nigeria and the Republic of Ghana.”

     

  • Ekiti to build 5,000 low cost houses

    Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi has said his administration would build 5,000 affordable housing units this year.

    He announced this yesterday in his New Year broadcast.

    Fayemi said the State Peace Corps will soon become operational to complement the efforts of security agencies in tackling crime.

    He said: “It is common knowledge that a society thrives more and attracts higher economic growth when there is peace. The State Peace Corps will become operational in the New Year to complement the efforts of the regular law enforcement agencies and reduce crime.”

    Describing 2013 as “Ekiti’s Year of Empowerment and Consolidation”, Fayemi said the government would empower more people and create a conducive environment for job creation.

    He said his administration would improve the welfare packages of workers.

    Fayemi said the plan to build 5,000 houses, was to save residents from shylock landlords and dubious property developers.

    He said the housing scheme, to be tagged Homes Agenda, would be achieved through a Public-Private Partnership arrangement.

    The governor said the Social Security Scheme for the Elderly would be extended beyond the 20,000 beneficiaries, who receive N5,000 monthly stipend each.

    He said his administration plans to build two General Hospitals in Ilawe and Iye, adding that the abandoned Oba Adejugbe General Hospital Complex would be completed in the first half of the year.

    The governor said arrangements have been concluded for the renovation of the 20 Specialist and General Hospitals, as well as the 35 basic health centres across the state.

    He said the Ekiti College of Agriculture will take off his year, adding that the state government would partner the Federal Government to establish two rice processing mills and one cassava processing plant in the institution.

    Fayemi said his administration would complete all ongoing road projects this year and initiate new ones to make all parts of the state accessible.

    He said the government would continue with the Urban Renewal Programme and build township roads in Ikere, Ikole and Ijero, which used to be the divisional headquarters.

    The governor said a new ministry would be created to facilitate development and eradicate poverty at the grassroots.

    He said the Ikogosi Tourist Resort would open for business in the first quarter of the year, adding that a lot was invested in tourism to make Ekiti the most attractive holiday destination in Nigeria.

    Fayemi said his administration would continue to train teachers to enhance their performance.

    He said the revival of the Ire Burnt Bricks Factory and the Odua Enterprise Centre has expanded the state’s resources and provide jobs for the people.

     

  • The familiar games of Ekiti opposition

    The familiar games of Ekiti opposition

    The Ekiti opposition had planned their strategy to be debilitating, to hurt the ACN government fatally, at least; and they were riding on the recent NULGE strike in Ekiti State to launch the intensive campaign of hate, as a prelude to a governorship aspirant’s tour of the state.

    The malicious opposition in Ekiti State had apparently bought over some commercial drivers and sent out party faithfuls to pose as passenger-sympathisers of the striking LG wokers on a shuttle of Ekiti routes.

    There were a number of indentical sample cases that helped this writer to draw his conclusion, out of which he personally encountered three. And in each of the cases, the driver of the commercial vehicle had claimed to be a suffering LG worker who eked out a living to survive non-payment of salaries or denial of minimum wage. His sympathiser-passengers would then descend on the state government with diatribes, making the governor their particular target; the governor who was a supposed villian who, allegedly, was “conserving the money (of the state) which is God-given anyway and merely wells up on oil fields for the use of all Nigerians”.

    Their base and crude arguments were laced up with deliberate, libellous statements that were delivered so virulently to intimidate those who might want to challenge their vituperations.

    Of course there were still a few cases where innocent passengers challenged or tried to educate the campaigners either until they discovered that they were talking to sheer blackmailers or until they alighted at their destinations. While deliberate, desperate misinformation was the mission of the malignant opposition, sanity has always been the goal of the Ekiti Government in restruaturing or reforming both the education and local government systems in the state.

    The opposition which would want to catch in on every opportunity of pretence to relevance had decided to over-celebrate the skirmish of the LG wokers and teachers with the Ekiti Government, forgetting totally that sancrosanct sanity can only be faulted temporarily, and certainly at the peril of those who faulted it. With the LG workers in Ekiti State back at work and their demands being met, just as Ekiti teachers are coming to terms with the government’s policy of genuinely raising the standard of teaching to improve the quality of education, we can watch the smart campaign of the opposition to collapse soon and fast.

    Soon, they would realize that they should have accepted , at least in principle , that sanitization of the LG system was a necessity which they, themselves, had attempted while in power, even though without success. The honesty would have won them some admiration, you know, but might have appeared not too politically wise.

    Soon, they would also realize that they had hurt themselves fatally by not accepting the need for educational reforms when there was a dire need for it. They would be ashamed to have instead chosen to canvass the perpetration of negativity in the forms of crushing presence of ghost workers and absentee workers in Local governments and existence of examination magic centres in public schools.

    They were taking the Ekiti people for being gullible, treating them as nincompoops who would not know or care if ghost or absentee workers cheat them; who won’t know that the teachers or schools that indulge in securing undeserved bright results for pupils could render such pupils potentially useless to themselves, to their parents and to the larger society.

    The familiar Ekiti opposition did not even spear time to lament the 16% pass which the Ekiti public schools recorded in the recent WAEC exams. Perhaps they had blamed the John Kayode Fayemi administration which scrapped exam magic centres! One recalls now that some teachers, in an earlier interview, had gaily described exam magic centres as”a vogue all over Nigeria”. The opposition might have borrowed a leaf to say: “It serves the governor right if Ekiti schools recorded low WAEC performance. Why didn’t the Governor leave the teachers to fix results?” What a Pity!

    Apart from the fact that reaping the fruits of travesty does not portend true and real progress anywhere, the positive posture of the current administration in Ekiti State has obliterated all doubts about its intention. But for the cross of reforms in the LGs and the schools that the JKF administration had to courageously carry, the clever Ekiti opposition would have been dazed and deflated by now.

    Nevertheless, the Ekiti opposition’s smartness is already blowing on its face as the tour of the aspirant, at which its reckless mischief was targeted, has failed to draw the projected crowds. Rather, it has met with resistance at each stop.

    Yes, a government’s performance can speak louder than virulent blackmail!

     

    • Oguntoye writes from Oye Ekiti.

     

  • 5,800 benefit from Ekiti free health mission

    The Ekiti State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Olusola Fasubaa, has urged residents to take advantage of the State Government’s Sixth Free Health Mission.

    He said over 3,000 residents of Ikere-Ekiti have benefitted from the exercise.

    Speaking yesterday in Ikere-Ekiti, Fasubaa warned expectant women against patronising churches and mosques for medical treatment.

    He said it is not only unhealthy, but dangerous to resort to faith-based organisations and herbal homes for treatment during pregnancy, at delivery or after.

    Fasubaa said he was impressed with the turn out for the exercise.

    Caretaker Chairman, Ikere Local Government, Mr. Kayode Adekamimo said several people have regained their sight through the health intervention.

    He urged the people to continue to support and pray for the Governor Kayode Fayemi administration.

    In Ise/Orun Local Government Area, the Olowuro of Orun-Ekiti, Oba Adewumi Aderohunmu, and the council Chairman, Mr. Femi Ajayi, lauded the free health mission.

    In Emure Local Government Area, the State Director of Public Health, Dr. Francis Ibikunle, said over 2,800 people benefitted from the mission.

     

  • A lift for youths, needy in Ekiti

    A lift for youths, needy in Ekiti

    Lawmaker provides jobs tools

    A House of Representatives member, Hon Bamidele Faparusi, has donated poverty alleviation items worth several millions of naira to over 1000 beneficiaries across the 33 wards making up the Ekiti South Federal Constituency II in Ekiti State.

    The constituency comprises Emure, Ekiti East and Gbonyin Local Government areas.

    Faparusi, who represents Emure/Gbonyin/Ekiti East Federal Constituency at the National Assembly, received a groundswell of praises in Ode Ekiti during empowerment programmes he organised principally for youths, needy adults, women groups and the physically challenged in his constituency.

    Under the programme with the theme, Fighting Poverty, various items distributed.

    The items included four 14-seater buses for the party, one per local government area and one for constituency operations; a 10-seater bus; two saloon cars;  35 motorcycles, 35 grinding machines; 10 deep-freezers, 25 sewing machines; 25 hair-dryers; 35 generators for small business owners; 160 knapsack sprayers for farmers; 10 wheelchairs for disabled persons; 32 complete sets of business centre gadgets and materials; five sets  bricklayers tools; clothing materials for 400 women; 200 stoves for women; N10,000.00 cash support for 64 market women and cash donation for 10 entrepreneurs worth N1million.

    Faparusi said it was natural for him to share his wealth with the poor, adding that he felt compelled to give back to the people who freely gave him their mandate to represent them.

    He said further that empowering women and the youth is surest way to reduce poverty among Nigerians.

    Faparusi noted: “Pursuant to the careful assessment of the needs of the communities in the constituency, we have gotten the nod of the National Assembly to embark on crucial community projects under the Constituency Project Scheme.

    “These shall be commenced fully in January 2013 after necessary modalities have been put in place. These projects include the construction of an ICT centre at Emure; installment of a 33KV feeder line at Isinbode; construction of boreholes at Ijan, Kota, Omuo and Emure, installation of solar streetlight at Ekiti East and Gbonyin, and supply of library materials and facilities at Omuo.

    The federal parliamentarian described the increasing spate of unemployment rate among Nigerian youths and women, as a time bomb that could kill the future of the country, unless concerted efforts are made to halt the trend.

    At the event, over 10 vehicles and motorbikes were distributed to commercial drivers and motorcyclists including youth groups, while women numbering over 1,000 went home with sowing and grinding machines, as well as generating sets to boost their businesses.

    While some women received financial assistance to help them in setting up

    small scale businesses, some youths also got free recharge cards and mobile phone sets to set up phone call business that would make them economically independent and cushion their poverty.

    Faparusi insisted that the country must place high premium on the development of the youths and women categories, if it is sincere with its development and transformational agenda in boosting its economic potential

    “The rate of unemployment among the youth groups and women is alarming and it is an issue that calls for sober reflection because that is the why Nigeria has found it very difficult to develop economically.

    “Today, youths are taking into armed robbery and other crimes as well as prostitution because they are not gainfully employed. This is why the governments have to be passionate about the development of its youth population for economy to develop, because they are the active and productive population”, Faparusi said, adding: “No country had ever abandoned its youths and developed. They should be the focus of the economy. They should be well-equipped and positioned to drive the economy for Nigeria to move up. There should be interventions for them to have education, skills and leadership focus to guarantee the future of this country. That was why all my intervention programmes since elections have been centred on education and skills acquisition to complement the efforts of Governor Kayode Fayemi”.

    He further said: “What we have given them are just palliatives. Many others will still have their share, but above all, I have acquired lands for the purpose of building skill acquisition centres across the constituency where people will be able to get trained in vocations with more supports from us. That will, by God’s grace, commence next year.”

    One of the beneficiaries, Chief Ajisafe Moses who got a car noted that the kind of experience in Ekiti in which thousands have so far benefitted from both state and national lawmakers and political office holders in the state across the three senatorial districts has turned peoples’ lives around dramatically.

    Moses said: “This experience we are having is new in the state. We are thankful to God and grateful to our lawmakers. We are not being disappointed however as we elected them and what we thought is what we are getting today especially from Hon. Faparusi.

    According to Kunle Oloruntoba, it is total surprise that he could get nearly a hundred thousand naira worth motorcycle from Hon. Faparusi. I am grateful to our lawmaker for this great gift. I have been saving for this for a long time and I now have it without spending any amount.”