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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