TURNING EKITI AROUND: A NEW GENERATION AGENDA

By ONI Olalekan (Originally written on July 7, 2011 as an entry in IBOLD Ekiti Essay Competition)

Ekiti State, created in October 1, 1996 from the old Ondo State, is among the poorest (in terms of

infrastructure and revenue accrued to the state) and least developed  in the whole federation. In

October 1996, Ekiti had 76% of its debt tied to four large dam projects and two defunct industrial

complexes. Only two out of the 22 industries established by the Ondo State Government before

the creation of  the State  were located in Ekiti  State. The industries are the Road Materials  and

Construction Company, Igbemo-Ekiti and the Burnt Brick Works, Ire-Ekiti (Uba-Oguoma

et al, 2005).

In 2004, after eight years as a State, Ekiti remained underdeveloped, with the people depending

largely on the antiquated infrastructure bequeathed by the defunct Western Region and old Ondo State.  According  to  the  State  Economic  and  Empowerment Development  Strategies  (SEEDS) document of 2004, there is poverty in Ekiti communities. Six years after the reviewed SEEDS document, the people are still wallowing in abject poverty, infrastructural facilities still in a state of comatose, the potential agro-based industry remains largely untapped, and the people's most enduring attributes; education and human capital development is underfunded and underutilized.

According  to  Olujoba,  a  Senior  Special  Assistant  (Speech  and  Public  Communications)  to Governor Fayemi, “Ekiti  State receives N1.8 billion from  the Federal Allocation every month and also gets N480 million from Value Added Tax (VAT), while Internally Generated Revenue (IGR)  stands  at N160  million out  of  which  salaries  and  emoluments  gulp N2.3  billion”.  The current budget figures are made up of N36,598,869,680.39 or 45.31% recurrent expenditure and N44,180,244,869.61 or 54.69% for capital expenditure. This implies that in 2011 fiscal year, the Ekiti State Government is expected to spend a total sum of N80,779,114,550.00. How then can one  talk  about developmental  project  in  a poor  State  like  Ekiti  without  looking  at alternative means  of  funding?  States  like  Lagos,  Rivers,  Cross-River,  Kano,  Akwa-Ibom  and  Niger  are already taking up the initiatives by creatively turning their untapped revenue potentials around in order  to  have  a  stronger  IGR  and  thereby cr eating an enabling  environment towards  a  private sector  driven-economy.  Ekiti  State  needs  not  look  far  because  the  panacea  of  realizing  the Millennium  Development  Goals  (MDGs)  is  to  critically  identify  and  immediately  start harnessing the abundant natural resources that has being lying fallow over the years.

Three  viable  opportunities  will be  carefully  appraised  with  the  goal  of  increasing  the  IGR  of

Ekiti  State  by  40%  by  the  end  of  2015  and  also  ensuring  that  the  IGR  is  20%  of  the  total

recurrent  revenue  of  the  State  at  the  rate  of  10%  per  annum.  The  three  areas  are  Tourism,

Agriculture, and Regional Integration.

In  the  first place,  Ekiti  State  has no  reason to  be  poor  because the  people  are  endowed  with natural  resources where it was largely  known  that Ekiti land constituted well over  40% of the cocoa  products of the famous old  Western  Region. The land is also known for its forest resources, notably timber. Because of the favorable climatic conditions, the land enjoys luxuriant vegetation, thus, it has abundant resources of different species of timber. Food crops like yam, cassava, and also grains like rice and maize are grown in large qualities. Other notable crops like kolanut and varieties of fruits are also cultivated in commercial quantities. But what obtains now is a State that can hardly fend for herself in term of food security. As the vast majority of the Ekiti people lives in rural areas and depend on agriculture for their daily  needs,  history  has  shown  that  the  most  effective  way  to  reduce  poverty  is  to  increase investment in the agricultural sector and empower the smallholders. But beyond that, the target should  be  to  use  this  strength to drive the economy. The alarming statistics that Nigeria is producing only two million tonnes of assorted foods instead of the required five million tonnes to cater for the food needs of the nation. And the fact that the attention of the international community is drifting away from food aid to developing small-scale farmers should be the right impetus to the State Government, Local Government, traditional rulers, sons and daughters of Ekiti.

According to the  International  Food  Policy  Research Institute, progress in agriculture  depends greatly on the quality of input components such as hybridized seed, availability of fertilizer and chemicals, transportation of  goods-input  and produce, marketing or ganization, and  agricultural know-how  at  the  farmer  level.  The Government  should  set  up  three  world  class  agricultural service  training  centres  in  the  three  senatorial  district  of  Ekiti-North,  Ekiti-Central  and  Ekiti-South  with  the  objective  of  advancing  and  modernizing  agricultural  production.  The Government should sponsor interested participants especially youth to these training centers as it is  done  with  the  National  Youth  Service  Corps  (NYSC)  thereby  reducing  the  number of unemployed youths in the State and consequently increasing the IGR. The  recent N75  billion CBN  loan (for  the  entire  States  of  the  federation) earmarked  for agriculture  when  released  should  be  channeled  to  the  procurement  of  heavy agricultural equipment  for  farmers,  availability  of  fertilizers  especially  to  smallholders,  processing  of agriculture and  farm  produce etc.  As a  policy, the Local Government  should provide  technical support in the area of industrialized production of livestock, including cattle, poultry (in “battery farms”) and fish with  the  objective of making the  State the largest supplier of meat,  dairy  and eggs in the south-west by 2014.

Secondly, to turn the State into a world class tourist destination and generate foreign exchange into the coffers of the State, the tourism potentials of the state should be heavily invested in with a view to making it a world class tourist centre. According to the Ekiti State Policy Development Committee  (EPDC) , about N1b will be needed to make Ekiti the haven of tourists in Nigeria.

The State Tourism Board should be overhauled with the aim of making it less dependent on the

State Government  and be private-sector  driven. Aside from known tourist centres like Ikogosi Warm Spring in Ikogosi Ekiti, Olosunta and Orole Hills of Ikere, Ero Water Dam in Egbe Ekiti, Fajuyi Square in Ado-Ekiti, other potential tourist sites like the source of Osun river in  Igede-Ekiti, and natural endowments in Efon, Oke-Mesi, and Ipole should be exploited and developed in order to make the state the preferred destination for holiday and relaxation.

Lastly,  the  much talk  about  Regional  Integration,  South-West States  including  Edo  and  Delta State pulling resources to ensure a rapid socio-economic development of their states, is a critical area of increasing Ekiti State IGR. The implementation of the agreement should be pursued with vigour. To ensure that Ekiti State benefits tremendously from this alliance, it is important that the State Governor constitute a board called the Ekiti State Regional Integration Board (ESRIB) that is  backed  by  necessary  legislation.  The  members  of  the  board  should  be  people  of  high reputation, unquestionable honesty,  integrity and  professionals  in relevant  fields.  Their agenda should be focused on the construction of a railway system that links the region together whereby someone can wake up in Ado-Ekiti, link up with a train and be in Lagos in less than 60 minutes. They  should also focus on developing Independent Power Project/Plants (IPP) that will relieve the people of the region of  the  epileptic power supply  from the  federal source  (PHCN) with  a vision of generating 10,000 MW by the end of 2014. Other areas where joint effort is expected for consideration are telecommunications, education and industrial policy.

In conclusion, turning Ekiti around is a task that is achievable. Developments should be geared

towards providing sound quality education, serene and picturesque environment, standard health sector and good road networks, as well as other social amenities. Therefore, it is important that the State Government employ other possibilities of generating funds with a vision of placing the state  on  an  enviable  height  amidst  her  counterparts. The strengths of the state should be concentrated  inwards and  fully utilized. Agriculture, which  has  been  the  state s  strongest  area, should be holistically tackled with a vision of becoming the food basket of the nation . Tourism is another  area where the  government can invest into. The example of Obudu Cattle Ranch in Cross River State is one to learn from. The issue of regional integration should be treated  with utmost tenacity because there lies the future for the economic emancipation of Ekiti State and the path towards a new dawn.