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Ekiti State Governor in
Maryland Town Hall Meeting:Is He for Real?
Article: Tope Adeyoju / Videos:
Cross Road Media
Mon July 25,2011
On July 15, Governor
Kayode Fayemi met with the World Bank to explore avenues in
which Ekiti state could secure funding for infrastructure
development projects.
Before his four day trip overseas, the outcome of civil
service exams, which led to the swift reduction of civil service
workers across Ekiti State, was greeted with public outcry.
Before his return to Nigeria, he met with Ekiti indigenes
in a Town Hall meeting hosted by Ekiti Focus Group USA. It was
here that he apprised the meeting participants on the trend
prior to his administration taking office, and the new direction
he is leading the state with his ‘8 Point-Agenda.’ (Video Inset:
INTRO – 8 POINT AGENDA)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtrzawUCzYY&feature=relate
Governor Fayemi noted
that civil service is second to agriculture as the mainstay of
employment in Ekiti state. He also noted that the civil service
in Ekiti is a politically influential service and that his
decision to tackle the problems in the workforce would have an
impact on his popularity. However, in a situation where 90% of
the federal allocations and state generated revenue was being
sucked up by 10% of the population something had to be done. As
part of his 8 Point-Agenda, the decision to restructure Ekiti
State’s civil service was necessary to reduce a bloated
workforce that enabled malfeasance to prevail. He cited cases
where people who were not in the civil service collecting wages
from the state, as well as those in which people collected
pension on deceased workers.
(Video Inset: CLEANING
HOUSE & FIXING CIVIL SERVICE)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUxGTphCFt8&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdLQqD0Uemc
The town hall meeting
participants were obviously impressed by the governor’s road map
and technical approach to implementing new policies that will
restore confidence in government and subsequently prosperity
throughout Ekiti state. However,
this is not the first time a governor has visited its people and
presented an agenda that promises to turn around the fortunes of
its people. In light of the recent lay-offs, the governor’s
credibility is under fire from critics and opposition alike.
Mr. Olumide Fayomi, president of Ekiti Parapo Association
of New York; a non-partisan and non-profit organization that
hosted the governor in a similar town hall meeting on May 26 in
New York, remarked that critics will harp on the fact that Dr.
Fayemi did not occupy any political office in the state prior to
becoming governor. Furthermore, the retrenchment of civil
servants will give opposition grounds to accuse the governor of
leading Ekiti state with theoretical measures instead of
practical ones. Notwithstanding, he points out that, Dr. Fayemi
had held various positions during his career in which he had
helped shape public policy. Amongst them is his pro-democratic
activism to ensure that the government met the needs of its
people. Governor
Fayemi’s portrays himself and his administration as an
accessible one and one that is fervent in pursuit to increase
social equity in Ekiti state. Following
his presentation, he engaged the meeting participants in a
question and answer session. Judging
from the buzz in the audience, there was an air of satisfaction
about the governor’s capability, sincerity, and accessibility as
he gave everyone his email address. Though as most would
discover after the event that the email he gave was a defunct
one. This, in and
of itself, brings the governor’s sincerity on being accessible
into question. The meeting participants have ample reason to
wonder if Governor Fayemi is the type to woo his subjects and
detach themselves from them at the same time.
(Video insert: QUESTION & ANSWER SESSION)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HT93varcdHU&feature=youtube_gdata
With a little over eight
months into his administration, it is too short a time frame to
grade Governor Fayemi’s performance.
But when evaluation time arrives, the progress he has
made on each item on his 8 Point-Agenda will readily serve as a
benchmark to grade his performance. Before that time however,
Governor Fayemi has an immediate challenge to tackle and an
opportunity to send a distinct message of hope to the displaced
civil servants. To
leave them without implementing a labor program will provide
counseling, job creation, training, and some measure of social
security to dampen the impact of unemployment in their lives as
well as their families, will be tantamount to insensitivity.
One wonders what time
frame is in place for the governor to achieve his stated plans
to make Ado-Ekiti a wireless city, bring call center jobs to the
state, complete unfinished road projects, water work projects,
increase distribution of electricity, and turn unused areas
around the state’s airport into an EPZ (Export Processing Zone).
These and many other goals he outlined promise new
opportunities for the newly displaced civil servants as well as
other workers who are unemployed in the state to achieve gainful
employment. The outcome
of his meeting with the World Bank is still pending.
The impact of his appeal to tap into the resources and
resourcefulness of Ekiti’s in the diaspora is yet to be seen.
And the agenda to foster
interstate partnership between Ekiti and Maryland lacks any
details as far as which projects require capacity building and
who the stakeholders will be. For qualified Ekiti’s citizens in
the state and abroad who are able to meet the vetting processes
tied to the various infrastructure projects, the various
administrative divisions have to be diligent in making sure the
contract award process is inclusive and transparent in
accordance with the new public procurement policy Governor
Fayemi is championing as part of his 8 Point-Agenda. To avoid
cost overrun on public works projects, the various department
overseeing these projects can charge contractors with the duty
of providing expenditure reports in accordance to a progressive
timeline in which they agreed to complete various components of
the project. In observation, for those looking to get in touch
with key personnel or divisions within Ekiti state government,
the official website (www.ekitistate.gov.ng)
is still a work in progress.
For instance, there is a page on the website that allows
for those who are seeking unemployment to submit their
information and CV.
However, given the current situation where the email addresses
connected to the root of the site are not working, e.g.
kfayemi@ekitistate.gov.nig bounces back to the sender, any
information submitted through that form will get sent into
oblivion. Though
the website is full of information, it lacks substantial
multi-media to illustrate the progress being made in
revitalizing the deplorable infrastructure referenced in the
governor’s speeches.
One of the points
Governor Fayemi made in his Maryland town hall meeting is that
if no one responds to an inquiry made to any division of his
government, they have to provide a reason and do so within a
reasonable time frame.
As laudable this personal charge of accountability is,
one wonders how feasible it would be to manage his subordinates
in the different arms of his government with varying degrees of
professionalism, egos, ineptness, and even agenda that are
altogether different from his.
For those who have attempted to reach him and those who
plan on reaching him at the email address he gave at the
Maryland town hall meeting, an explanation will be due.
How soon they receive such an explanation, if at all they
get one, remains to be seen.
In the larger interest of the state, and for those whose
lives will be changed as a result of his restructuring policies,
Governor Fayemi will need to extend the scope of his public and
community relations department and do an effective job at
preparing its people for the changes to come alongside ensuring
that inquiries made through all communication channels are
answered in a timely fashion. Imaginably, once people can see
how change is being made; be it through a more dynamic website,
video broadcast online, periodic news bulletin on NTA Ado-Ekiti,
or SMS, some measure of confidence will be restored in the mind
of his critics and supporters alike. Indeed, time will tell if
Governor Fayemi is the real deal for Ekiti state.
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