Your Excellency,
I am joining your crowd of well wishers to congratulate you, on the pronouncement of the Appeal Court, affirming your election, as governor of Ekiti State.
I am not unaware of the obvious fact that the anxieties that went into waiting on the courts must have affected the process of governance-part of the reasons I delayed in writing my letter, apart from the fear of running foul of a judicial-process, by addressing you as Excellency. With all of these put behind us all, I expect that politics is over, till the next four years. You should
(i) assume your position as governor of Ekiti, its communities and people, of all religious, partisan and social persuasions
(ii)let the party chairman of your party take full charge of the party and separate it fully from government
(iii)start, immediately the process of mobilizing all state resources to move our state out of the woods, moving it to the next level
(iv) you need more friends, now, than enemies.
In furtherance of my suggestions, I want to state as follows:
Governance, in all political cultures, is first and foremost, about the people, their welfare and their environment of abode-the role of government is to mobilize all resources to combat challenges of life, full stop.. In a democratic culture, governance is entirely participatory and popular-it is government of the people, by the people for the people. Most Nigerian governments fail, primarily, because chief executives don’t realize these facts-they, unduly, over-emphasize the importance of their fellow politicians, contractor/business-friends and close friends to whom all attentions are paid, to the exclusion of the people(the voters)-some, even, behave as if election is ordination-thereby assuming the illusory power of life and death. Still, some are carried away by the fake and deceptive howling of rented crowds-whose comments are no more than commercial-services, they neither reflect the feelings of the people nor translate into electoral-prospects in succeeding elections. Performance is real and mostly visible, it is neither a subject of debate nor of propaganda. While the reward of business is material, that of politics/governance is legacy. No godly person goes into politics, with a view to making money/acquiring materials-it is self defeatist, counter-productive and catastrophic. You were reported to have, openly acknowledged the role of God, in your second coming. I am gladdened by this realization and hope that the actions of your government will be guided, at all times, by this fact, noting that God does no evil-He couldn’t have brought you to do ungodly things-this is a serious challenge. Note the followings:
(i) no one ever saw God, no one will see him, we can serve God, only through service to mankind
(ii) public/community service is the most vantage opportunity, in life, to serve God.
(iii) from (i) & (ii), above it behooves us to serve humanity diligently, selflessly, especially, if we volunteer to do so
Ekiti, today remains the least developed of all the former LOOBO states. You would appreciate the import of this, now that Nigeria is being adjudged the worst human-habitat, on earth! You, I and all of us, need to ask questions how did we get here, in Ekiti
Your government must set to work, immediately, to turn things around. I, once heard that, during your first coming, you came out, with your MOW engineers, even as early as 3am a times, to inspect jobs done by contractors-this portrays you in good light, to all true lovers of Ekiti and its development
By way of suggestions, as a stakeholder in the project Ekiti, I wish to call your attention to the followings:
Agric/Food/Water-
Without mincing words, I hereby state that all civilizations start from the stomach.The only way we can, effectively, feed our people is to, aggressively, launch an operation feed the people. Revitalize the farm settlements in Orin, and others like it, using Chief Awolowo’s template, employing our graduates of agriculture as settlers (modern school graduates were used by chief Awolowo). Let this scheme be complemented by a compulsory school farm scheme, in which, like in the Comprehensive Grammar School, Ikerre, under Chief Jegede, students produce, at least, enough to feed on.
With Ero dam, Ureje (Ikun) Ureje (Ado), nothing explains absence of water in our homes, and even hospitals! other than failure of governance. This needs to be, seriously looked into
Industrialization
We need to explore the possibility of launching our state into an industrial era by looking first at agro-based industries. We have the highest number of our youths, operating okada-this isn’t good for our image even as it constitutes intolerable nuisance to our urban traffic
Education
What we call education today, in Ekiti will only take our people and our state to no where, The state should equip a school laboratory/workshop per month in each senatorial zone for the next four years, while an autonomous local government does same for a school per month in the local government.
Re-energize the ministry of education, inspectorate division, to monitor teachers’ performance and commence train-the-trainers programme, in partnership with our university UNAD. Let all secondary school students move into the boarding house, under highly motivated house masters, so they are out of reach of politicians, using them as thugs-they are our future. If the Olubunmos, the Ojo Ugboles, the Alukos, the Afe Babalolas, the Falegans etc had busied themselves shouting baba ke, after politicians or riding okada at 5am like the Osun High School student who ferried me to Igogo junction, the respect accorded us before the prominence of il-gotten/satanic wealth wouldn’t have been.
Health
Develop a robust health-care delivery system that will provide affordable health care to our people.
Learning is a continuous exercise-Kwankwaso, then of PDP came to see how Fasola was running Lagos, to the admiration of man and God. Kwankwaso, now, remains one of the best in contemporary Nigeria.
Resources
Any visionary governing Ekiti is damn lucky-Ekiti has the largest number of enlightened citizen-per-square meter, of land area in Nigeria-with hardly any citizen, 30 year or younger, not holding a West African School Certificate!. Ekiti has what it takes to take the entire country to the promised land, in terms of manpower.
All we need do is put partisan politics, which contributes nothing to the GDP, apart and reach out to people-start by inviting the former chief executives, if possible so you can have something like a council of state, to advise on governance, with a view to re-branding our state it’s presently, the worst in the country with water flowing in less than 10% of the homes!
Fortunately or unfortunately, this fact makes the Ekiti electorate very analytical, with capacity to call Adeogun and also Adegun if/when occasion permits-they can’t be taken for granted, as this is a democracy, a doctrine of free-choice
Limitations of funds
We, all, know that resources are limited, it is in the very nature of life, generally-nothing new. Management is it that makes the difference. When desire to make a difference becomes the goal always enemies and rival party members ‘ll become friends and on we go together to the promised land.
Coming to govern is purely, a voluntary decision. Again, congratulations on the Appeal court’s pronouncement
I commit you and your government unto the Lord for His divine-guidance
Yours sincerely
Citizen William Aborisade
Igogo Ekiti, Moba LGA