Economy: Ekiti, Osun Fast Repositioning – Okedele

MICHAEL AKINOLA

Gone are the days when Ekiti and Osun States retained the status of being the poorest state of the South West sustained merely by allocations from the center. This is the conclusion of Iragbiji, Osun
State born, social analyst, renewable energy promotion professional and United Kingdom Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Certified Expert, Prince Timothy Adekola Okedele, after a recent economic assessment of the two states.

According to Okedele, who is one of the present 2,500 beneficiaries of the Ekiti State Government entrepreneurial training scheme design to train 4,000 building investors or entrepreneurs in the state, in order
to accord them the capacity to access the Federal Government CBN/AGMEIS loan only at 9% interest, the two state are already proving unstoppable in terms of leadership creativity and innovations which eluded them in the past.

On the current picture of Ekiti State, Okedele noted that Governor Fayemi is flowing with an uncommon leadership know-how which propelled him to wanting to industrialize his state starting with making the Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti, a knowledge city to fast-track technological development and industrialization.

Furthermore, he highlighted that Fayemi’s readiness to develop Small and Medium Enterprises through the Medium Enterprises Development Agency MEDA and the Ekiti State Bureau of Employment  & productivity points to the direction of his administration to reposition Ekiti State, stressing that not only did the government of Fayemi
facilitated/funded training of the entrepreneurs in collaboration with the Wema Bank of Nigeria, he also ensured that professionals were provided to help those entrepreneurs who are incapable of preparing their business plans for submission to do so. Okedele expressed delight over Ekiti State’s effort at ensuring that the requisite EDI certificate for the CBN is obtained by the trainees.

Buttressing the leadership dimension and the development strides of the Executive Governor of Osun State, Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola, Okedele, who also is the Managing Director and Executive of Prince AdeS Oke International Ventures, pointed that the Osun State economy is facing the direction of buoyancy as the Governor remains resolute in his determination to establish 25-30 manufacturing industries across the state.  One of the reasons he recently organized an Economic Summit, which brought together stakeholders, not only from Osun State but also from the South West geo-political zone and beyond.

According to Okedele , Oyetola’s paying of workers full salaries without waiting for Federal allocation substantiates the Governor’s preparedness to make real his promise to improve the internally generated revenue (IGR) strength of the state.

He stressed that Governor Gboyega Oyetola’s massive enhancement of the health sector, which has led to the development of 130 PHCS across the Local Government of the state is an indication of his resolve to build the state by ascertaining the health of the people of Osun, starting from the grassroots areas.

In addition Okedele, hinted according to study that “what we understand is a TB / HIV & Dementia patient and also drug rehabilitation patients are expected to visit hospitals every day to take medicine at hospitals, so all the patients are monitored physically and managed today. But patients visiting hospitals are creating other problems like polluting hospitals, cost for hospitals, transport cost to patients and so on; the main reason he will be available with modern technology to support government of his home state of Osun with smart medical devices; supporting critical disease: TB & HIV and Dementia patients and would be first in Nigeria if given the needed recognition and support by the State Government, Okedele hinted.

He further emphasized that Oyetola’s commitment to over all development has led to his chasing of illegal miners out of the state and replacing with legitimate ones to foster accelerated development.

Condemning some of the activities of the miners who encroached farm lands, beyond portion allocated to them, Okedele noted that such actions could cause inter family or communal frictions. He urged the miners to work within the purview of the law and communal instructions stressing that the people of Osun State are peace loving
and development minded, the reasons he said most times they explore the 3Cs formula Consultation, Consolidation before Confrontation in handling issues bordering on land and delineation.
Expressing his readiness to work with the government towards achieving a greater Osun, Okedele hinted that with an Executive consideration, he will marshal technologists with different technologies and enough financial power to come to invest in Osun state.

Boasting of his capacity as a specialist who has spent 10 years in researching on how to remedy Nigerian’s power, environment, economic, agriculture, employment and security challenges, Okedele reintegrated his wiliness to play active roles in the processes that will revolutionize Osun State economically and infrastructurally, sharing
that failure to be relevant in this regard after getting Executive attention will make rubbish of his over one decade of
professionalism as researcher, promoter and commentator.