Oyebanji: We’ve Succeeded in Changing Focus of Governance in Ekiti

Governor Biodun Oyebanji of Ekiti state in this interview with Gbenga Sodeinde speaks on his achievements within one year in office and what people of the state should expect from his development plan in the next three years.

One year is gone since you were sworn in as Governor of Ekiti, How far so far?

As a government, we have a contract with the people of Ekiti state and we promised ourselves that we will work for them and work with them.

We made certain promises to them and for the past few months, we have ensured that those promises are kept. Even if those promises come at a cost, it requires self-discipline, a lot of concentration, a lot of consultation and a lot of what I will call a stable and compassionate policy from the government.

It also requires a lot of tactics and strategies and we have tried as much as possible to ensure that we are truthful to Ekiti people.

We believe that trust is very key to governance. So, the first mark I set for myself is that I need to earn the trust of Ekiti People because if you are going to take them on a journey of four years, they must trust me to the point that they will follow me to that expected end and we have tried to do that. So, if this is the feedback, well, I give God all the glory but I also know that it is too early in the day for us to rest on our oars.

So, the reward for  hard work is more work.

With respect to buying the opposition, it is not correct. What we have done is to ensure that we are running an inclusive government and we are communicating with everybody including the opposition. Election stopped the day I was sworn in as governor of Ekiti State. I don’t see myself as governor of APC, I am the Governor of everybody in Ekiti State.

In concrete terms, what are the major achievements of your administration since you assumed office one year ago?

One of the major objectives of this administration is employment generation and wealth creation and without doubt, the major driver of employment and wealth is the private sector investment, especially direct investment in agriculture and industrial sector.

As a State, we are very aggressive in our efforts to mobilize both foreign and domestic investors to our State. I am happy to report that Ekiti is one of five States that has consistently attracted foreign direct investment in the last five years.

Ekiti State has been audacious in its aspirations, and we are pleased to announce that our efforts have not gone unnoticed.

We were recently ranked favourably in the ease of doing business by the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PBEC) in its 2023 Sub-national Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) report.

This recognition reaffirms that Ekiti is on a steady path to continued growth and development.

To underscore the importance of investment promotion to our government, I  have constituted the Board of the Ekiti State Development and Investment Promotion Agency, under my chairmanship. In addition, I also chair the State Ease of Doing Business Council.

My involvement in leading these two critical organs shows the importance we place on investment promotion, and continuous improvement in the business environment. Our Government is doing everything to improve service delivery to our people.

As a result, extensive expansion work has been done on the main building of the extension to the Governor’s Office.

Through a creative architectural ingenuity, the building has been remodeled, expanded and comprehensively rehabilitated as offices for top government officials. Similarly, the Data Centre has been upgraded to meet up with the new challenges. Also, Jibowu Hall has been given a facelift befitting of Ekiti State. The Office of Transformation, Strategy and Service Delivery has been retooled and recalibrated to ensure prompt service delivery by MDAs.

The old Civil Service Commission building has been rehabilitated and handed over to the judiciary to host the Ekiti State Customary Court of Appeal which was recently approved by the National Judicial Council. I am glad to report that Ekiti now has a Customary Court of Appeal to serve the need of our people especially at the grassroots and we have also procured vehicles for our Judges, in fulfillment of our promise to prioritize the welfare of judicial officers.

We have also undertaken critical recruitment of workers to fill some consequential vacancies in critical professional cadres in the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security; we have approved the creation of career cadre for the graduate of Banking and Finance so as to have their own career path for career progression and fulfillment, and also appointed qualified accountants to various Finance functions.

What can you say about the processors Zone occupying the Agricultural processing Zone?

Yes, In response to the processors occupying our Agricultural Processing Zone, the Ekiti State Electricity Board is connecting the zone to the national grid to support the processing industries cited in the zone.

Our belief is that the highway to prosperity and wealth creation is through value addition as opposed to exporting of raw materials, which deepens poverty. 

We are also working on expanding the portfolio of Fountain Holdings to invest in the extractive sector of the State. It is pleasing to know that many of our concessioned state enterprises such as Ikun Dairy Farms, Ire Burnt Bricks, Ikogosi Warms Springs and Resorts, Fountain Hotels, among others, are doing well. In fact, we have injected the sum of N28 million for the recapitalization of Ire Clay Products Ltd for increased performance. 

What can you say about Structural Reformation of your government?

As part of our institutional restructuring to make government more responsive and focused, we have undertaking some internal restructuring in the structure of ministries and agencies. We, have for instance, created new ministries such as Chieftaincy and Home Affairs, Ministry of Employment and Wealth Creation, Ministry of Community and Rural Development, Ministry of Innovation, Science and Digital Economy, Ministry of Training and Capacity Development and Ministry of Special Duties.

Similarly, the following ministries have been restructured: Ministry of Information, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Budget, Economic Planning and Performance Management, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Arts, Culture and Entertainment Economy, Ministry of Youths Development,  Ministry of Women and Social Development, and Ministry of Rural and Community Development.

We are coming up with some specialized agencies to undertake some direct functions which had been hitherto inadequately managed in the ministries where they were housed.

To solve such challenges, we have upgraded the  Sports Council to a  Commission to manage sports development, in fulfilment of an electoral promise;  Bureau of Values Orientation to focus on citizenship and values  orientation campaigns; Bureau of Tourism to focus on tourism development; and Local Content Bureau to drive our local content policy.

What have you done so far about the “special people”, or physically challenged people?

In response to the request of the hearing impaired persons, we have employed 20 sign language interpreters and deployed them in the places where they can service the language needs of the hearing impaired persons.  Similarly, 50 temporary personnel of the Ekiti State Traffic Management Agency (EKSTMA) have been regularized into the service. We also employed People with Disabilities (PWD) during recent government recruitment exercise.

We have recently appointed a new Head of Service in person of Sunday Akomolafe after the retirement of the last HOS, Mr. Dele Agbede. Before then, we had  appointed, through merit and competitive process, new Auditor-General of the Local Government, Statistician-General of the State, Surveyor-General of the State and Secretary of the Audit Service Commission for the Local Government. We have also appointed  new 14 Permanent Secretaries to ensure that the vision and plans of Government are run by competent hands.

In terms of training, we have trained a wide number of staff in the civil service, especially in the local government system where some knowledge gaps existed. So far, we have trained about 1,100 staff of the Local Government Service Commission.

As for the welfare of our workers, we have kept to our promises. We are not owing any salaries and we have paid all deductions since we came on board.

So far, we have paid over  N10, 210, 792, 973.88 as monthly pension, while a total sum of N385, 000, 000:00 has been paid as gratuity at the local government level  and N700million as gratuities to State’s pensioners. I have also approved another sum of N500million to be paid any moment from now for State’s pensioners. 

We have also made the sum of N288, 300, 000:00 available as car loans to the state public service and N267.07million as housing loans to 1,901 beneficiaries. We have also recapitalized the Local Government Loans Board to enable the local government staff benefit..

Furthermore, we have implemented the financial benefits for the 2019 promotion. Just as we have promoted 1,700 staff of primary health development agency. 

In order to facilitate their easy movement, government presented cars to the Head of Local Government Administration (HLAs) and Education Secretaries.

Finally, we have continued the tradition of ensuring the three arms of Government are involved in revenue allocation; while also ensuring statutory functions are funded as a first line.

How and what criteria did you use in choosing your commissioners and other political appointees?

I want Commissioners that are in constant touch with their localities.

As a leader, it is good to think global, but it is better to act local because we are products of this environment. So, at the end of the day, they submitted their recommendations to me, they recommended three names because the Committee went round the State for eight weeks collating CVs, interviewing them and don’t forget that the committee was headed by a retired Permanent Secretary, Baba George Akosile and we had the likes of former deputy governor, Prof Modupe Adelabu on that committee. Members of that committee are experienced people and I don’t believe that the leader is necessarily the person that knows everything, the leader is someone that can put together smarter team to guide him in taking a decision. So, I believe strongly in their ability and capacity to do that. It is not that I shy away from it, I just wanted to test another approach to doing things, I don’t believe that being the Governor of the State confer monopoly of knowledge on me, I don’t believe in it.

But at the end of the day, it was my decision because out of the three names sent, I still have to pick one. I must confess, the day we did swearing in for them, you will realise that our people are taking ownership of it. So, all the Commissioners appointed know that they came from their local governments.

They are representatives of their respective local governments, so their loyalty is going to be to the people. I don’t want Commissioners that are loyal to me, I want Commissioners that are loyal to the people of Ekiti State because Government is about the people, it is not about an individual.

For the chairmanship primaries, as the Leader of the party, I don’t think I should have a favourite candidate and the chairmanship position belongs to the local government because that is the closest level of government to the people.

I don’t want local government chairmen that will be loyal to me as Governor of Ekiti State, I have sat on this seat for close to one year and I have realized that if you are on that seat and you are not compassionate, you don’t love the people, you can use that seat to destroy lives.

So, I wanted Chairmen of Local government that will hold their allegiance to their people not to me. If I sit down here and I just appoint Chairmen for local government and LCDAs, their loyalty will be to me, not to the people and that will not be good for our people.

That is the reason I have decided to democratize the choice of political appointments. And so far, I think it resonate well with the party people because the leadership also consulted with traditional rulers, opinion moulders in the state and local government before they came up with the names. I can assure you that I didn’t get involved in any of them and I am okay with that. I am not here to build structure for myself, the structure must be built to serve the people of Ekiti State because the state is larger than the Governor.

How have you been managing the resources of Ekiti in the last one year?

Well, in respect to what I met on ground, there is no state that will not be indebted but the question is what are the debts spent on? So, a state owing money is not an offence but what do you owe money for? There are a lot of capital projects going on in the state.

We know that the state resources may not be enough. It is even better for you to do all these things taking loan than to wait, because of the rate of inflation. And has there been manna falling from heaven? Well, there has been an improvement in what comes to the state in fairness.

There has been a little improvement in what comes to us but what we have done, we have not done anything too serious. I see Ekiti State as a company, before I take any decision, I will ask myself that if this were to be my company, what will be the best decision for me to take?

And you will realise that we have run an austerity government for the past one year and gradually, my aides have come to terms with my style of leadership. My style of leadership is servant leadership, the people first. Let’s take care of them, we are here because of them.

So, because of change in attitude to governance, we have reduced a lot of expenditure on recurrent. You know, we have stopped unnecessary workshop, frivolous seminars, travelings that will not add value to the state. I met with the rank and file of the civil service before I came on board and I begged them that when you receive all these circulars to workshops, ask yourselves that what value will this add to Ekiti State?

And they found out themselves, they called themselves to order. As the Governor of this state, I have been here to close to a year, I have only travelled out once and it was free, UNDP sent me to Kigali.

Every month, I receive six to seven invitations to travel out but I ask myself, what value will this bring to Ekiti? If it’s not something that will add value, I drop it because I know that this seat has an expiry date, when I leave, will I be able to go home and sleep well? I also know, some of you may not agree with me that I will stand before God to give account one day.

I believe in that. So, because we have been able to change the focus of governance, we will do more with little and we will continue to do more with little. We have not owed deductions, we have not owed salaries, yes, we take overdraft to pay salary atimes.

We put N2.5 billion aside per month, to pay salaries because I don’t want to owe workers’ wages.

We are dealing with gratuities arrears, we have paid CONHESS to local government staff, we have provided resources for local government to function, we have done that.

I have spent a year in office, I have not bought any official car, I am still using the one left by my predecessor.

The first set of political appointees that I have worked for a year without official vehicles, but now that I have brought in additional members (my bosses), I need to make provision for vehicles for them. 

But as the governor, I have not bought a new vehicle and I don’t intend to buy as long as the ones I have are functional. I took them to Abuja, they helped me refurbish them and they look nice and I am good to go and it doesn’t make me a lesser Governor.

I see service delivery as a definition of that seat. I was elected to serve the people, so it is not about my convenience or comfort.

I still believe Leaders should make sacrifices and because I am conservative, most of my colleagues now, they will check themselves before they bring any frivolous file on my table because they know that you have to put the people forward.

The question I ask myself is, the man selling Boli outside, the Okada Riders, those in Erekesan Market, they are also pertakers in the allocation that come to Ekiti.

Because at the end of the day, it is Ekiti State and the money belong to everybody.

So, government must play a policy that will also affect those people and I am responsible to them because those people put me to this job through their votes and I keep telling everybody that when they went out to vote for us, every vote carry the same value. The vote of the Governor, and the vote of the man riding Okada, same value.

So, access to government opportunities should also be equal, those are the principles that drive me.

It was rumoured that you and you predecessors, particularly, Fayemi and Adebayo are no longer in good terms because they were alleged to have been disturbing you, please let’s know your  relationship with your predecessors?

Cuts in… disturbing me how? No! No !  I see myself as the clone of both himself, Governor Niyi Adebayo and Governor Ayo Fayose. And since Oga (Fayemi) left, I am the one that is always disturbing him, because there are some doors I will ask him to go and open for me and he does that without any problem.

I consult with him regularly, he has not foisted anything on me, he doesn’t disturb me for anything, I am the one disturbing his peace. I will call him that when will he come back to Ekiti, he will tell me I should allow him to rest. There was a time he had to go to London to do something for me.

He got there and he called me and I spoke with the person. Today I have called him to do some things for me and he said he will do it. There is no basis for friction. I am actually blessed by predecessors that don’t disturb me, even those ones that belong to the opposition, I have found favour in their eyes, they give me advice unconditionally so, I stand on the shoulders of giants and I know that it is only the grace of God who has made this to happen.

My relationship with all of them has been extremely cordial and I intend to maintain that. Governor Fayemi remains the leader, remains my boss, my mentor and because I worked with him for seven years, taking decisions, to a large extent, I can have a guess of what he would do on any matter.

One day we were having a discussion, I was telling him I want to do this, I want to do that, I was mentioning names and he told me that look, if he was the one taking the decision, he would pick those people too.

This is because I sat at all the meetings as SSG with him. I was a member of the strategy team, I was a member of his think tank, so, he has taken me through all these things so, on any decision, I have an idea of what Oga will do. But where I have problem, I can pick my phone and call him that what should I do with respect to this. So, I am full of gratitude to him for his support and I can count on his stronger support going forward.

In fact, let me use this opportunity once again to thank Governor Fayemi and his wife Erelu Bisi Fayemi, for the historic role they played to bring our administration on board.

I want to also acknowledge the support of former Governors Adebayo,  Ayodele Fayose, and Segun Oni. I also thank all our party leaders and members across cadres for their sacrifices and support.

What should Ekiti expect from your administration in the next three years?

What Ekiti people should expect in the next three years is a faithful implementation of our six pillars in accordance with the Ekiti State development plan and in accordance with the 2024 budget.

Ekiti people should expect new capital projects,  improvement in the living conditions of the people, those in formal sector should expect government support for the informal sector and same for private sector and they should look forward to the establishment of industries in the state.

Also, we are going to put a lot of emphasis on clean environment to ensure that we clean our environment, we put emphasis on the art, culture and tourism and also, attack unemployment and insecurity in the state.