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Governor fayemi's speech on the 19 th anniversary of isan ekiti unity day
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Transcript of Governor fayemi's speech on the 19 th anniversary of isan ekiti unity day
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ADDRESS OF HIS EXCELLENCY, DR. KAYODE FAYEMI, GOVERNOR OF EKITI
STATE, ON THE 19TH ANNIVERSARY OF ISAN-EKITI UNITY DAY HOLDING AT
ST. MARTIN’S CATHOLIC PRIMARY SCHOOL FIELD, ISAN-EKITI, ON
SATURDAY 17TH DECEMBER, 2011
PROTOCOLS
My dear people of Ekiti, our distinguished guests and visitors, I welcome you all to the 19th
Anniversary of the Isan-Ekiti Unity Day, which has been an avenue for we, the indigenes of
Isan-Ekiti, our friends and well-wishers from far and wide to converge and deliberate on how to
move our town forward and towards further greatness. This year’s event, I believe, is unique as it
comes at the point in which our transformational agenda as an administration has begun to take
firm roots in Ekiti State, and this is set to impact positively on all the towns and communities in
our State, of which Isan-Ekiti is one. While as Governor, my primary constituency straddles the
entirety of Ekiti State, it is also a fact that I am specifically of Isan-Ekiti extraction by origin, of
which I am immensely proud. Hence, I am obliged by this fact to be an active contributor to all
that will enhance the upliftment of our town.
As a community, we in Isan-Ekiti are a homogenous stock of people defined by our integrity,
hard-work, generosity, and peace-loving nature. We are also highly accommodating, and this has
formed the basis of our harmonious relationships with contiguous communities through time.
With a deep cultural understanding of how concerted efforts embarked upon in unison enable
progress, we are in the 19th annual incarnation of coming together as a people to tackle the
developmental challenges in our community, and this present occasion is appositely described as
“Isan-Ekiti Unity Day”. It is through the essence of striving in unity that we can come to a full
realisation of all that we desire and are capable of in Isan-Ekiti.
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On our part as a people’s government that is committed towards creating the
means through which development can be fast-tracked in our communities, we are in the process
of harnessing some of the vast mineral resources of the State towards creating wealth and
opportunities for our people. This is a major prong of our administration’s programme of the
economic empowerment of communities and people in Ekiti people, as expressed in our 8-point
agenda. And, in this regard, Isan-Ekiti’s noted reserves of high quality Kaolin – which is an
essential input in the paint, cosmetics, chalk, agro-allied, and pharmaceutical industries – is in
the course of being explored commercially. This will, certainly, give impetus to the growth of
industries and the creation of jobs for the generality of Ekiti people; and, it will also trigger the
expansion of the economic chain, with a multiplier effect on the local economy of Isan-Ekiti, as
coterminous activities and services arise.
Further to the foregoing, the general clay industry is being explored in the effort to make it more
commercially viable for our people, especially the women-folk in Isan-Ekiti who have been the
hands that have fashioned out much traditional beauty and wealth from the earth – the Abule
Soro. These women have created a pottery industry of international renown from the clay
deposits drawn from the Isan metropolis, and their works which were highly celebrated in the
past, and are still well sought after, need to be restored to their rightful national and international
pre-eminence through the creation of an enabling environment for them to thrive. This goes in
affirming our declared intent of relocating women at the centre of empowerment and
development in Ekiti State.
Importantly, as a people, in as much as we are largely driven by the aim of making Isan-Ekiti an
exemplary and popular living and working environment, despite what might be our differing
orientations, points-of-view and political affiliations, I want to utilise the opportunity of this
“Unity Day” to emphasise the importance of reconciliation in all its dimensions across the
spectra of our of community. Let us forgive one another of both real and perceived offences and
‘injuries’, because it is only when we move beyond mutually destructive bitterness and toil
together in unity that we can advance in the quest to catapult our community to the forefront of
development and progress. After all, Isan-Ekiti is bigger than all of us, and whatever our creeds
and beliefs are, they should only be towards the attainment of its aims and objectives.
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I am equally using this occasion to advise our youths in Isan-Ekiti to
emulate all that is noble in our elders, whose antecedents include hard work, honour, and
integrity. Our youths must take up the gauntlet of striving towards purposeful and responsible
lives, and desist from seeking quick and seemingly easy livelihoods through hare-brained
schemes, political rent-seeking, and brigandage. As a government, we have expressed our desire
to provide social safety nets and human security by making jobs available and facilitating the
conditions for individual employment initiatives, which are part of what feed into our job
creation programme and job volunteer scheme. And, on the part of the youths, you need to be
aware that not everyone can secure or become profitably engaged in white-collar jobs and
professions. It is necessary for our youths to get more proactive, and as an instance: there is so
much arable land that could be accessed for farming in Isan-Ekiti if your priorities are tuned
right. It should be worthy of illustration that many of the great entrepreneurs in Western
countries, which serve as model places for a lot of you, are actually farmers and agricultural
producers.
Our dear friends, guests and colleagues who have come from far and near, I thank you for
honouring the invitation to be part of this year’s Isan-Ekiti day; and with our major project for
this event being the launching of a N200 million Ultra Modern Palace Fund, I trust that you will
contribute in significant measures towards this venture as a way of fostering the good
relationships that you have cultivated with us in Isan-Ekiti. In similar vein, I enjoin us natives of
Isan to considerably support this and other laudable causes that are set on lifting our town up and
making us a remarkable destination for business and pleasure seekers. I thank you for your time
and wish you a pleasant 19th Isan-Ekiti Unity Day.
Dr. J.K Fayemi
Governor, Ekiti State