Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi (Middle), being welcome into the Ikere-Ekiti, during the tour of the Local Government.
Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi has explained that the 2013 town hall meetings he is holding in communities across the state is not politically motivated. He said it was borne out of the respect his administration has for the opinions of the masses who “put me in government”.
The Governor gave this explanation on Monday during the second day of the meetings in 13 communities in Ikole Local Government Area, that his pact with the people was to “do government with them and not do government to them”, hence they must have inputs in how they are governed.
Dr. Fayemi added that it was inappropriate for a governor to just sit down in the state capital and decide what he felt the people needed when the people’s needs actually differ from the governor’s perception.
This, he said, is the reason for the annual town hall meetings to enable the communities have direct input in the budget preparations so that the budget would in reality be owned by the people and serve their needs.
At Odo-Ayedun where the community requested more fund to complete the perimeter fencing of the Oba’s palace, the Governor said that the grants-in-aid programme of the administration was just to lend a helping hand to the communities in carrying out their self-help projects, and not a way to usurp the functions of the State Social and Community-based Development Agency which is empowered by the World Bank and State Government to help communities with their priority projects.
He urged political appointees from each community to return home and support their community development projects; saying that they are appointed into government as representatives of their communities.
Also reacting on some communities’ plea for deployment of teachers to schools in the affected communities, the Governor warned teachers against influencing postings to rural areas but urged them to accept the postings and benefit from the Rural teacher posting allowance which is paid to teachers serving in rural areas.
Some of the affected communities had mentioned that they did not have more than one teacher, the headmistress and her assistant in a whole school, while some stated that corps members are the ones teaching the pupils as a result of inadequate teaching staff.
Fayemi however assured that the situation would be urgently visited to enable the schools have more teaching staff.
On the construction of Oke-Ako – Itapaji road, the Governor asserted that the road would be constructed not just because it is the request made by the communities but because government would soon start an irrigation project at Itapaji Dam and this would open the communities to more traffic as agro-businesses would change the face of the communities.
He assured them that Itapaji water booster station would also get special attention in next year’s budget as government has now placed priority attention on the water sector.
Governor Fayemi also urged unemployed youths in the area to exploit the opportunities that the agrarian nature of the local government area offers by engaging in agro-businesses so that the fertile land would not lay fallow.
All the communities trooped out to welcome the Governor and tabled before him their requests as well as showered encomium on him for the development that their communities have witnessed under his administration.
Speaking for Iyemero Community, Mr Moses Osasona said the community was once described as a “remote area” and suffered infrastructural neglect by successive governments but the administration of Dr Fayemi has brought it to a new dawn .
“Iyemero Ekiti people had suffered infrastructural neglect by successive governments but you stood up and ensured that Iyemero people are now enjoying infrastructural development. On this occasion, we cannot but make specific reference to those things that the Fayemi’s three year tenure has given birth to in Iyemero which include electrification of Iyemero powered by a brand new transformer, which the people of the community have been denied for almost a thousand years”, he said.
The Governor inaugurated seven projects during the meetings.
These included a Police Station at Ijesa-isu, Community information centre at Ilamo, a Health Centre at Otunja, blocks of classrooms and examination hall at Odo Oro, and the installation of a 200KVA transformer at Oke Ayedun, among others.
Last modified: November 5, 2013