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Tag: Ekiti

  • Ado-Ekiti set to celebrate culture, history with Udiroko festival

    People of Ado-Ekiti are set for their new year, according to their tradition. The new year is ushered in with a festival, the Udiroko festival.

    Unlike the other years which the festival was celebrated just among the Ado Ekiti people, the organisers of the festival, in conjunction with the Ekiti State government, have decided to promote the festival and elevate it as an annual tourist event that both local and inbound tourists could mark in their calendar and attend.

    The organisers early this week held a press conference to announce the date for festival. The festival will hold from  Monday, August  12  to  20.

    Speaking on the festival, the chairman of the Planning Committee, Professor Sunday Akindele, said: “The essence of Udiroko is to, annually, remember the historical foundation of the Ado kingdom. Udiroko has nothing to do with fetish idolatry or secrecy. All our programmes are documented. All our programmes are accessible to everybody. So, Udiroko is a festival that strikes at the root of Ado’s historical development .

    “Udiroko signifies the esxistence of the Ado people as an entity.   Udiroko literarily derived its name from under the Iroko tree. Udiroko is the first in the calendar of Ado, dating back to 1300AD, dating by to the 12AD when the first Ewi left Ile- Ife in company with his brother, dating back to when the third Ewi established Ado Ekiti by conquest. So, the subsequent Ewi from then, made it compulsory that every year, we have to remember the first meeting of Ado people under the Iroko tree. That is what has been done until our 28th Ewi who has been on the throne since 1990.”

    Speaking on the festival, the Ewi of Ado Ekiti,  Oba Adeyemo Adejugbe Aladesanmi III, the Ewi of Ado-Ekiti, said the Udiroko festival is usually a period set aside to give thanks to their creator.

    He said Udiroko was derived from the venue of the festival, which was beneath the big Iroko tree at Ewi’s Palace and  that it is cultural celebration to showcase the history, culture and tradition of Ado-Ekiti. The king  said indigenes of Ado-Ekiti also use the opportunity to pray for themselves and the town for remarkable achievements recorded over the years.

    He said: “The festival has nothing to do with rituals, fetishism and idolism, as it usually starts with Jumat Service on Friday which immediately precedes the first day event of the week-long celebration.

    “It ends with church thanksgiving service, and it is usually rotated annually among the various churches in Ado-Ekiti.

    “It is appropriate to say that there is nothing fetish or idolatry about the Udiroko festival.

    “These aspects of the annual festival which start and end in prayers in the houses of God clearly indicate that the festival is not fetish by any standard and not shrouded in secrecy.

    “Theme of the festival is: ‘Enforcing and Sustaining the Solidity of our History, Culture and Tradition’.

    “ Through this festival, we constantly celebrate our ancient past and showcase the rich cultural heritage of Ado people in ways that give currency to the past and precisely situate the present for the productive future.”

    The monarch said that Udiroko is a euphemistic expression of the significance of the first meeting of the Ado-Ekiti people under the Iroko tree to celebrate the founding of Ado Kingdom.

    Aladesanmi  said this was under the kingship of the Ewi, who thereafter, gave a royal proclamation of the first gathering under the Iroko tree as the first day in the Ado-Ekiti calendar year.

    “It is our hope that from now on, the Udiroko Festival will gain further international recognition that would propel it amidst its cultural peers in other kingdoms and climes,” he said.

    Earlier, Mr Wale Ojo-Lanre, the Director-General, Ekiti State Council for Arts and Culture, said the state government had decided to partner Ado-Ekiti people to rebrand the festival, globalise its celebration and seek marketers for the festival.

    Ojo-Lanre said this was to make the festival become self-sustaining and involve Ado-Ekiti indigenes in the diaspora, as well as those outside the shores of Ekiti.

    “We have noticed the energy and vigour with which the Ewi and the people of Ado prepare and celebrate Udiroko annually,” he said.

  • Ekiti PDP suspends Fayose’s loyalist indefinitely

    The crisis rocking the Ekiti chapter of the People Democratic Party (PDP) has deepened as the party in Oye Local Government Area on Sunday suspended a former lawmaker, Samuel Omotoso, from the party.

    Omotoso, who represented Oye Constituency 1 at the Ekiti State House of Assembly in the 5th Assembly, was suspended indefinitely from the party for alleged involvement in anti-party activities.

    Omotoso, a close ally of Governor Ayodele Fayose, is a medical doctor and one of the lawmakers suspended indefinitely from the 5th assembly for sundry offences, after Governor Kayode Fayemi took over last year.

    According to a statement made available to reporters in Ado-Ekiti by the party, Omotosho was suspended for allegedly engineering parallel executive in Oye Local Government Area.

    The letter conveying the suspension of the former lawmaker was unanimously signed by PDP executives in Oye Local Government and chairmen of the 11 wards in the council.

    According to the statement, “the party has consequently constituted a three-man committee in strict adherence to the party’s constitution to investigate the allegation”.

    Read Also: PDP primary election: Dickson convenes meeting of party’s elders

    “The committee is to conduct unbiased investigation and make necessary recommendations within two weeks on the allegation.”

    The party leaders, however, passed vote of confidence on the PDP chairman in Oye Local Government, Mr. Sunday Ojo, saying the era of imposition was over.

    In a reaction, Omotoso, former chairman, Ekiti Assembly Committee on Information, described the suspension as a ruse.

    He added that those who orchestrated the purported suspension are bunch of jesters, whose lineages are cloudy in the party.

    Omotosho noted that the leader of the group, who claimed to be chairman of the party at the local government level, was already on suspension by the party’s state working committee and has no statutory powers to suspend him.

    “I want you to ignore the group as they were only seeking for relevance. The sponsor has been suspended by the most powerful political organisation in Ekiti, the SWC. So, I don’t know where he got that power from,” the former lawmaker said.

  • Ekiti to conduct LG Polls December

    The Ekiti State Independent Electoral Commission has expressed its readiness to conduct free, fair and credible election in all the 16 local government areas in the state in December this year.

    The SIEC Chairman, Justice Jide Aladejana, announced this in Ado Ekiti, the state capital, on Friday evening when he led other members on a visit to the management of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Ekiti State.

    Aladejana said the visit to INEC was to seek the assistance in the areas of manpower development, voter’s register and permanent voters’ cards, PVCs, among others.

    “We are ready for a credible process that will attract every political party to participate in the elections.

    We are not going to bend the rules to favour any party because those to be elected are from Ekiti and not strangers,” he said.

    Read Also: Succour for 2,000 youths, women in Ekiti

    The INEC Administrative Secretary in Ekiti, Dr. Muslim Omoleke, said the electoral body was ready to offer support to EKSIEC in line with the Memorandum of Understanding that existed between the two commissions.

    Omoleke who noted that INEC was the custodian of voters’ register and PVCs, promised to do the needful when time comes but advised EKSIEC to formalise such request.

    “INEC is ready to deepen democracy at all levels, so the conduct of LG polls is very important and we shall do our best to support you,” he said.

    It would be recalled that Fayemi in his first four years between 2010 and 2014 didn’t conduct elections into the councils.

    The governor then used caretaker arrangements throughout the four years due to a court case instituted by the People’s Democratic Party against the composition of the State Independent Electoral Commission (SIEC).

    The PDP then filed the suit contesting the inclusion of the Chairman of the then SIEC, Mrs. Cecilia Adelusi, being a member of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria and the SIEC was dissolved based on that complaint.

    The elections are to hold in December because the two year-tenure of the current democratically elected PDP council officials will lapse by December 19, 2019.

  • Police structure inadequate to curb insecurity, says Fayemi

    Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi has said the existing police structure is grossly inadequate to curb the prevailing security challenge confronting the country.

    Fayemi advocated for state police as the panacea to the multifaceted insecurity menace facing the country and to facilitate better security cover for the 170 million Nigerian citizens.

    Speaking in Ado-Ekiti on Monday evening while appearing on  the monthly programme, tagged: “Meet Your Governor” aired by Ekiti-based  media outfits, the governor said the state government had concluded plans to build a modern and well-equipped police station at Iwaraja, a border town between Ekiti and Osun states.

    This, he said, would stem the tide of rising waves of kidnappings and killings being perpetrated between Efon Alaaye Ekiti and Iwaraja and to make the axis safe for commuters.

    Fayemi said he has been facilitating series of meetings across the country and Southwest in particular as the Chairman of Nigeria’s Governors’ Forum on the need to have a joint security network that will stamp out evil-doers from the zone.

    Read Also: How to surmount security challenges, by Fayemi

    “The governors, traditional rulers and other stakeholders are meeting across the Southwest and we are taking steps to ensure that our people are safe to do their businesses without fear of being killed or kidnapped.

    “In Ekiti, we are going to build a modern police station between Efon and Iwaraja to patrol the section where we had had reported cases of kidnappings and other crimes.”

    “Very soon, our people will be seeing leopard branded patrol vehicles of the Operation Rapid Response Squad (RRS). This is a modern security outfit that will be operating in Ekiti and other Southwest states. They are to work hand-in-hand with each other to ward off any form of security threat.

    “This issue of security is more important to me  than any other issue or policy of government, because if this place is safe, investors will surely come in and do businesses with us,”, he said.

    The governor added that the Ekiti State Security Trust had been signed into law and this, he said, would help in fortifying the security architecture of the state when it begins operation.

    On the issue of salary, Fayemi assured the workers of regular payment of salaries and pensions, saying the era when payment of civil servants’  benefits  were considered as favour rather than a right was over.

    “Apart from regular payment of their benefits, we are also assuring them that the backlog of salaries and pension will be paid,” the governor said.

  • Ekiti to take advantage of African investment windows

    Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi has said that his administration is keen on taking full advantage of African investment windows to make the state a one-stop shop for investments.

    Speaking in Abuja at the 2019 African Investment Forum Roadshow yesterday, Fayemi said his administration has commenced steps towards making the state a destination of choice for investors.

    The investment forum, which was organised by the African Development Bank (AfDB) and African Finance Corporation (AFC), was attended by local and international investment firms as well as representatives from the public sector.

    Fayemi, who is in partnership talk with the AfDB for infrastructure and agricultural development of Ekiti State, said it was not enough to approach a market place with “bankable projects”.

    He said efforts must also be geared towards making the business environment conducive for investment.

    “In Ekiti State, we are preparing for this year’s Africa Investment Forum, and are keen to take full advantage of the market place. We have passed the law establishing the Ekiti State Development and Investment Promotion Agency (EKDIPA) and are currently operationalising the agency. Once the agency commences full operations, it will provide investors with a one-stop shop to deal with investment related matters,” he said.

    Read Also: Ekiti eyes Nigeria’s art, culture hub status

    Noting that Nigeria needs about $ 3 trillion over the next 30 years to bridge her infrastructure financing gap, Fayemi said it is inevitable that the country seeks “private capital to deliver the infrastructure stock required to grow our economy and put millions of young Nigerians in jobs”.

    The governor, who stated that the AIF’s roadshow would complement a lot of positive initiatives of the Federal Government, added that Nigeria is open to business even as the Nigerian Governors’ Forum is focusing attention on investment promotion and job creation.

    Fayemi said: “I am confident that after this roadshow, both the government and private sector institutions will have a better appreciation of how to present bankable projects that will lead to Nigeria receiving a much higher investment commitment from the AIF, compared to our outing in 2018”.

    AfDB Senior Country Director (Nigeria) Mr. Ebrima Faal said the roadshow was aimed at changing the face of investment in Africa; adding that it was a multi-stakeholders approach dedicated to advancing development in the continent.

    Faal put the Bank’s 2018 closed deals in Nigeria at $7.1 billion while it funded projects worth $38.7 billion in Africa.

  • Ekiti eyes Nigeria’s art, culture hub status

    Director-General, Ekiti State Council for Arts and Culture, Wale Ojo-Lanre, has reiterated Governor Kayode Fayemi’s determination and vision to make the state the arts and culture hub of Nigeria

    Ojo-Lanre stated that Governor Fayemi and his wife, Erelu Bisi Fayemi, are conscious of the importance of arts, promotion of cultural heritage and value re-orientation through development and promotion of pristine culture and tradition.

    He spoke while receiving a delegation of the Theatre Arts and Motion Pictures Producers Association of Nigeria, (TAMPPAN), Oyo State chapter, led by Chief Rose Odika at his office in Ado Ekiti.

    According to him, ‘’It is in that view that the governor deemed  it fit to establish Ekiti State  Council for Arts and Culture with the mandate to rejuvenate, promote and develop arts and the cultural sector for empowerment and economic development of the state .’

    Ojo-Lanre disclosed that ‘at the council level, we have embarked on series of sensitisation programmes, participated in cultural events and we are also working on training of younger ones in the creative industry in order to make them  vessels of rebranding and promoting our culture.’

    He added that the council is open to ideas from corporate bodies, individuals and organisations in moving the state forward through arts and culture.

    “Our door is widely opened to welcome people with ideas and our template is large enough to accommodate, nourish and enhance packages from that can add value of note to the arts and cultural vision of Dr John Kayode Fayemi,’’he said.

    Chief Odika praised Dr Fayemi for appointing Wale Ojo Lanre, who she described as a  ‘super cultural and tourism enthusiast’ as Director-General and expressed  optimism about the performance of the D-G.

    She said her visit was to intimate the state of her plan to collaborate with Ekiti State Council for Arts and Culture in empowering the youth through intensive training in acting, cinematography, catering, pedicure and manicure among others.

    Chief Odika who said the programme is part of activities lined up to mark her 30th anniversary in the movie industry adding that participants  would feature in the shooting and acting of a movie.   She said that Ekiti is a state specially created by God for creative exploits and “we are here to explore these creative blessings for human development” .

  • Ekiti Assembly reinstates eight suspended PDP council chairmen

    Ekiti State House of Assembly has reinstated eight Local Government Chairmen and their Councillors elected on the platform of the Peoples’ Democratic Party(PDP).

    The unanimous resolution was reached at Thursday’s Assembly plenary where it was resolved that the Chairmen and Councilors should be reinstated.

    This decision was followed by a petition filed by the ALGON Chairman, Mr. Dapo Olagunju on behalf of the chairmen appealing to the Assembly for their reinstatement.

    The Assembly had on December, 18, 2018 suspended indefinitely all the 16 LGAs Chairmen and 177 Councillors to pave way for forensic audit of the councils’ account over alleged financial impropriety.

    They were indicted by the report of the Assembly Public Account Committee saddled with the responsibility of probing finances of the Councils.

    It was gathered their reinstatement followed the adoption of the reports of the House Committee of Public Petitions submitted by it Chairman, Mr Adegoke Olajide.

    The eight reinstated LGAs Chairmen and Councillors were: Ijero, Moba, Gbonyin, Ado and Irepodun/Ifelodun, Ikole, Ekiti South West and Ekiti West.

    Other eight embattled chairmen and their councillors in Oye, Ise/Orun,Ekiti East, Ikere and Efon, Ido/Osi, Emure and Ilejemeje Local Government remain suspended for further forensic investigation.

    Presenting the report of his committee, the Chairman of the House Committee on Public Petitions, Mr Adegoke Olajide said the Chairman of the Ekiti ALGON, Mr Dapo Olagunju on behalf of others wrote a petition appealing for reinstatement.

    “The appellant on behalf of the 16 indicted LGAs Chairmen appealed to the Assembly to passionately look into their cases with a view to reinstating them back in office.

    Read Also; Unknown men at Ekiti ex-Deputy Speaker’s home

    ” The decision of the Public Petitions Committee to consider the appeal of Mr Dapo Olajide on behalf of all the 16 indicted LGA Chairmen is premised on the imperative of ensuring stability of the third tiers of government within the state.

    “It is the opinion of the committee that the LGA officials who obtained clearance from the supervising Ministry before embarking on questionable projects can be reinstated,” Olajide said.

    Speaker Funmiyi Afuye commended the committee for a work well done, describing it as a great job.

    Other business at the Thursday’s plenary was the first reading of the Ekiti State Fiscal Responsibility Bill, 2019.

    The Assembly thereafter adjourned plenary sitting to July 15.

  • Ekiti: Tackling unemployment through technical training

    Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi has taken a bold step to reduce unemployment among the youth of the state with a massive investment in technical education. The result is the unprecedented transformation of the Government Technical Education, Ado-Ekiti, ODUNAYO OGUNMOLA reports.

    A visitor said: “I cannot believe that this place has been transformed. It has been a long while that I came here last. In fact, people won’t believe that facilities such as these exist in Ekiti.

    “The media have a duty to let the world know what is happening in this place. The good work done by Ekiti State government in this school has been under-reported and it is by reporting it that parents will be encouraged to send their children here,” another guest said.

    These are some of the comments of visitors to the Government Technical College, Ado-Ekiti on Tuesday, June 25 who were amazed by the transformation of the scenery, infrastructure and equipment of the school.

    The setting was the Innovation Lecture organised by the Ekiti State Board for Technical and Vocational Education to enlighten the public on the importance of vocational and technical education and the need to key in to the government’s desire to use that sub-sector to reduce

    unemployment among the youth.

    Anybody who had been to the college as a student, teacher, worker, parent or guardian in the past knew it as a decrepit, abandoned, rejected and untidy place with old and obsolete equipment.

    The hitherto precarious situation of the school dampened the morale of the teachers and students many of who withdrew owing to the derelict equipment and poor motivation.

    The restructuring of the technical colleges in Ekiti State actually began in 2013 during the first term of Governor Kayode Fayemi who saw technical education as a veritable vehicle to empower the youth, make them self-reliant and reduce the rate of unemployment.

    Determined to get the best for Ekiti and its people, Fayemi, who has a solid relationship with development institutions and multilateral agencies approached the World Bank for support for technical education.

    Fayemi’s effort paid off in 2014 when he successfully sourced, processed and secured the World Bank grant to turn around technical education in Ekiti State.

    The result is the beauty and cynosure of all eyes the Government Technical College, Ado-Ekiti has become at present which is being celebrated by all.

    With the magic wrought at the Government Technical College, Ado-Ekiti, those in Otun-Ekiti, Ijero-Ekiti Igbara Odo-Ekiti and Emure-Ekiti are expected to benefit from the gesture very soon in a bid to spread development to the hinterland.

    All of these efforts by the Fayemi administration are geared towards changing the narrative for technical education and make it more attractive.

    Technical education, which is seen as the dumping ground for never-do-well and dull students is being revived in Ekiti State to train youths to be job creators and not job seekers in an era in which white-collar jobs are difficult to come by.

    The plan was to use the Government Technical College, Ado-Ekiti as a model for technical education with the Midas’ touch to reach other technical colleges at Otun-Ekiti, Ijero-Ekiti, Igbara Odo- Ekiti and Emure-Ekiti.

    The Deputy Governor, Otunba Bisi Egbeyemi, who represented Governor Fayemi at the occasion, led other government officials on an inspection to all facilities at the college.

    The school boasts state-of-the-art auto mechanics workshop, automobile workshop, garment and fashion workshop, vehicle building workshop, welding and metal fabrication workshop and carpentry and joinery workshop.

    Others are modern fish pond, poultry, green house, shoe making workshop and modern and air-conditioned classrooms, among others.

    Fayemi, in his message delivered at the occasion by Egbeyemi, identified technical and vocational education as panacea to unemployment.

    The Governor urged the youth to show interest in skills acquisition to empower themselves in order to be self-reliant.

    Fayemi revealed that within six months in office, his administration, paid for three examinations required of final year students of technical colleges in Ekiti State.

    The Governor further explained that countries such as Japan, South Korea, China, Germany, United States of America and the United Kingdom leveraged on technical education which aided their advancement in technology.

    Fayemi said: “There is no gainsaying that, technical and vocational education is synonymous with employment in which learners will not only use their minds but also their hands.

    “Idle hand is the devil’s workshop. Therefore, when this form of education is appropriately harnessed and embraced, the high rate of unemployment in our society will not only be reduced, but it will curb the societal ills.

    “Technical and vocational education has the potential of improving the socio-economic sector of the state and the country.

    “Arising from the above, our government is committing huge amount of money and other resources to reposition technical colleges in Ekiti. This is evident in the reconstructed Government Technical College, Ado-Ekiti.

    “Efforts are also in top gear to commence the phase two of the project that will have the Government Technical College, Ado-Ekiti model replicated in other four technical colleges across the state.”

    The Chairman of the Board for Technical and Vocational Education, Mr. Kayode Babade hailed Fayemi for the great work of transformation of the college which he said was a step towards launching Ekiti on the path of technological advancement.

    Babade pledged that no efforts would be spared by the government to develop the four remaining technical colleges to the standard of that of Ado-Ekiti.

    He urged traditional rulers, parents and guardians to assist in mobilising the unemployed youths to imbibe skills acquisition by attending the rejuvenated technical schools.

    Babade said: “Many of us who are privileged to travel across the border of this country will attest to the fact that countries such as United Kingdom, United States of America, Singapore and China became great by investing in technological innovations.

    “I have no doubt in my mind that His Excellency, Dr. John Kayode Fayemi, is Godsend at this time to reclaim the fading glory of technical education in Ekiti State and to redeem our youths who have become jobless and who engage in different vices because of the wise saying that ‘the devil finds work for an idle hand.’

    “At this juncture, I appreciate the support of the Governor for the great work of the transformation of this college with the state-of-the-art equipment which had been installed for use.”

    The Executive Secretary, Board for Technical and Vocational Education, Mrs Folu Ayeleso said investment in technical education would aid the Ekiti knowledge economy being promoted by the Fayemi administration.

    She said the deficit of information and awareness about technical and vocational education has contributed to the wide gap between skilled graduates and employment graduates.

    Two resource persons, Mr. Sam Adejuyigbe and a building technologist, Mr. Gbenga Ayeleso, addressed the students on the importance of technical and vocational education.

    Adejuyigbe, a Professor of Computer-Aided Engineering at the Federal University, Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE), narrated his story from humble beginning as a technical student who rose to the peak of academic career.

    Ayeleso assured the students that skills acquisition offered by technical education would not make them depend on others for survival but would make them to use their brains to make legitimate income.

    • Ogunmola is Special Assistant (Media), Office of the Deputy Governor, Ekiti State.

  • Insecurity: Army deploys drone in Ondo, Ekiti forests

    The 32 Artillery Brigade of the Nigerian Army (NA) Owena Barracks, Akure, has deployed the use of technology to fight the scourges of kidnapping and banditry within the Ondo and Ekiti States axis.

    The Brigade Commander, Brig-Gen Zakari Logun Abubakar, disclosed this on saturday during the launching of a high tech drone device in the Osi community in Akure North Local Government Area of Ondo State to combats the criminal activities in the vast forest of the two states which has become a den of kidnappers.

    Abubakar explained that the drone, a Phantom 5DGI, procured by the Army would assist the military formation of the Anti-kidnapping Squad in identifying the movement and activities of suspected bandits, kidnappers and other criminals.

    Read Also: ‘Insecurity can cause revolution if unchecked’

    According to him, the device which would also help the survey targeted areas in the two states is the latest technology in aerial surveillance and can cover up to seven kilometer radius with capabilities of recording and transmitting report back to the base.

    He said “There are thick forests in these states and that is the advantage some of the criminals are using because some of the places you cannot penetrate them easily. So in line with the Chief of army Staff directive to have a responsive Nigeria Army in the discharge of its constitutional role, we decided to use technology in addition to the Anti-kidnapping Squad. We have two of this drone, one for Ondo and the other one for Ekiti State which would easily help us to fight the issue of this kidnapping headlong.”

  • Law no longer an ass in Ekiti

    “The Law is an Ass” is a commonly used expression to convey the frustrations individuals have with accessing justice. The metaphor of the stubbornness of the ass (donkey) refers to the very rigid application of the law. It has its origins in the works of Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist (1838), when the character Mr. Bumble – the aggrieved husband of an overbearing woman, is told in court that “…the law supposes that your wife acts under your direction”, to which he replies: “If the law supposes that; …the law is an ass”.

    Everyone knows someone that has tried to access justice through litigation, and can understand why legal practitioners are generally agreed that disputes are not always best resolved in court, especially in developing countries like Nigeria. Ekiti-born literary icon Prof. Niyi Osundare drives this point in when he wrote in his poem “My Lord, Tell Me Where to Keep Your Bribe” about corruption and inefficiencies in the Nigerian judiciary, “The law, they say, is an ass. Sometimes fast, sometimes slow. But the law in Nigeria is a vulture; fat on the cash-and-carry carrion of murdered conscience”.

    This is why governments all over the world continue to advance several ways to reform their justice sectors in keeping with the times, and to be amenable to the peculiarities of their peoples and cultures. For example, in the immediate aftermath of the genocide in Rwanda in 1994, when the formal justice systems in the country lay in ruins, the country’s leadership established the Gacaca courts, which were community courts which met once-a-week in villages across the country, often outdoors and under trees. The objective of the Gacaca courts was to achieve truth, justice and reconciliation among Rwandans, and though considered controversial was very effective in attending to the huge backlog of cases of accused persons.

    Such efforts by governments all over the world have produced several models of what is called the Multi-Door Courthouse which provides that litigants in mostly civil cases should not only access the court through litigation only, but that the court should provide them with alternative doors such as mediation, conciliation and arbitration, under the oversight of the court. With this in place, members of the society enjoy the advantages of these alternative methods of dispute resolution over litigation, while enjoying the timeless values and protection of the formal court system.

    This understanding of the place of the law, and the role that an effective and efficient legal ecosystem plays in supporting the equitable administration of justice and the building of a peaceful, cohesive, and progressive society is obviously not lost on the Kayode Fayemi administration of Ekiti State. Building on the well documented reforms carried out in his first term of office (2010-2014), the administration has taken crucial steps in advancing a comprehensive reform agenda in the justice sector, that is integrated and comprehensive.

    It is significant to note that Governor Fayemi whose political trajectory has seen him vindicated by the courts in many instances in the past, however understands that notwithstanding the rising popularity of these alternative methods, the formal courts remain an integral part of law and order in society, simply because certain critical roles the temples of justice play cannot be replaced. In recognition of this, the state government recently completed the renovation of the state’s High Court Complex, with a commitment by the governor to ensure an annex is also built to improve the capacity of legal officers to carry out their mandate optimally in a conducive environment. The government continues to pursue its far-reaching vision to “provide a system of justice that is simpler, cheaper, more efficient and more responsive to people’s needs with a view to actualizing same with greater efficiency and effectiveness. Moving from the rigid law and order paradigm at the same time maintaining a focused, better result-oriented clients’ services through committed legal officers who are core professionals”.

    It is in addition to the improvements in infrastructure, manpower development and other interventions in the justice sector, that the Government of Ekiti continues in its efforts to reposition the justice sector in the state. Today, Ekiti State makes history as Governor Fayemi signed the first ever Administration of Civil Justice Bill into law – the first state in the country to do so.  It is reported that the federal government and all other states have their respective Administration of Criminal Justice Laws, but Ekiti State has led the way to do the same for the Administration of Civil Justice.

    The Ekiti State House of Assembly had last week unanimously passed the bill entitled,” A Bill for an Act for the Provision of Administration of Civil Justice in Ekiti, 20193  at a plenary presided over by the outgoing Speaker, Rt. Hon. Adeniran Alagbada. The bill was sponsored by the Attorney-General of Ekiti, Mr. Wale Fapohunda, to ease the administration of civil cases procedure. It is reported that during the debate on the bill, honourable members Chief Gboyega Aribisogan (APC-Ikole 1), Mr. Badejo Anifowose (PDP-Moba 2) and Mr. Wale Ayeni (PDP-Ikere 1), in turn all called for the speedy passage of the bill because of the advantages it promises to the masses in Ekiti. The bill, according to Ayeni, would create room for conflict resolution on civil matters, thereby easing the administration of justice in the state.

    Disputes are a part of life because we cannot all see things from the same perspective.  When people however trust the justice system, there would be less instances of resorting to self-help in resolving grievances. As a progressive society that is evolving under a visionary leadership, Ekiti is leading the way in circumventing, in as many instances as possible, the needless combative and adversarial tensions associated with litigations in our justice system that must have inspired the Yoruba adage that says “A ki ti kootu bo, ka sore” translated to mean “you don’t take me to court and expect us to remain friends.” We therefore expect that the relevant government offices would in the coming days unpack the provisions of this new law, together with others, to let the people know exactly how it affects their lives, and how they can make the best use of them.

    The administration of Civil Law is no longer an ass in Ekiti State, but a humane tool for collaborative resolution of conflict that produces, in most cases, win-win outcomes for all parties. With Governor Fayemi signing this bill into law, Ekiti State again leads as the first to enact what is now known as the ‘Administration of Civil Justice Law, 2019’ in the state. We look forward to studying the provisions of this new law, but we guess that the government would be looking into our rich native culture and tradition to devise ways to expedite the resolution of civil disputes, in a way that reduces pressure on our formal justice system, and takes away the sting that litigation inflicts on relationships between individuals and communities.

     

    • Rotimi, a public relations practitioner writes from Lagos.