By Victor Ogunje in Ado Ekiti
The Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has ordered the immediate dissolution of the boards of government agencies, parastatals and corporations in the state.
Chairmen of the boards of the agencies are directed to hand over to the most senior officer in their respective agencies.
A statement by the Secretary to the State Government, Biodun Oyebanji, Friday, said the dissolution however does not affect the statutory boards.
“Government appreciates members of these boards for the services they have rendered to the state. Composition of new boards will be announced at a later date,” Oyebanji said
Meanwhile, being part of the ways through which his administration can run an all-inclusive government, Fayemi has been told to carry those in the diaspora along to bring them closer to government and prevent alienation of the elite based abroad.
Fayemi was advised to always confer with the Ekiti abroad and seek their
inputs in decision-making process, for the state to have a broad-based platform to tackle its challenges.
The Coordinator of Ekiti Coalition for Change, United States of America, Mr. Samuel Ayodele, in a statement from Washington DC Friday, said the time has come for Fayemi to explore the opportunities available to the state all over the world in solving some of the problems confronting the people.
Ayodele praised Fayemi for his commitment to the development of the state, saying the Ekiti indigenes resident in United States of America are ready to support developmental strides of his administration, for Ekiti to rise to stardom in all spheres.
The coalition’s leader stated that Ekiti in diaspora backed Fayemi’s interest in reviewing all the financial dealings undertaken by the past administration, advising that such should be carried out with open mind and in a manner devoid of vindictiveness.
He said: “We quite appreciate the giant strides put up by Dr Fayemi in ensuring that the developmental indexes of our dear state change for better. We studied the projects executed by his government between 2010 and 2014 and we never doubted his competence and administrative astuteness to be able to deliver this time.
“In 2010 when his Excellency, Dr. Fayemi came as a neophyte in government, he delivered democratic dividends to Ekiti people making our dear state to rise meteorically on the developmental ranking and created a new impression that the state has the capacity to lead even with lean resources.
“Even in the four years of Mr. Ayodele Fayose’s government, Dr Fayemi was being fondly remembered via his programmes like the Youth in
Commercial Agriculture that employed over 1,500 commercial farmers, the N5,000 social security scheme to the elderly among other landmark schemes that impacted positively on the people’s lives.
“But making Ekiti great depends largely on how the human resources available to it can be harnessed to bring prosperity. It is on this note that we are appealing that our people in USA, Europe, Asia and other parts of the globe should be carried along in the running of government.
“Though, we are not politicians but we can also contribute in making lives bearable for our people there at home. Seek our inputs and ensure that we exchange correspondences at frequent interval on steps being taken to shore up development in our dear state.”
On Fayemi’s interest to review the financial standing of Ekiti, especially regarding projects undertaken by the immediate past government, Ayodele hailed the step, saying it would help in injecting financial prudence into governance.
“This step is crucial because Ekiti must be made to know how their lean resources were spent. I want to appeal that such should not be done with sinister intention, but with open and sincere heart.
“Ekiti is one and if there are cases of suspected financial impropriety in the way finances were handled, such should be subjected to institutional and judicial scrutiny to avert the governor’s actions from being suspected as a witch-hunt,” he advised.
