However, in two years of his stewardship, the indefatigable Governor has kept up the optimism of the electorate that elected him through a consistent record of good governance.
To organise a seminar like this for one’s own self-assessment speaks to three critical issues. One, it derives from a courageous sense of achievements. Two, it speaks to a willingness to learn from one’s omissions and commissions in order to be able to keep growing. And three, events like this signal a vibrant concession to doing more in governance terms.
This is why, in my reform advocacy framework, events like this are key to measuring the determination of institutional reformers, from a permanent secretary to a Head of Service to the Governor of a state; to move institutions forward into positions of transforming policies into dividends of democratic governance for the Nigerian citizens. I am hopeful that the discourse here today will constitute another moment for governance and development progress in a state that has come a long way since its creation.
In this opening remark, I will like to set the tone by articulating my sense of the practical import of the notion of public service efficiency, against the background of what I have been calling bureau-pathology in the public service system in Nigeria. I hope that I will be able to connect this brief reflection to the significance of the concept of sustainable development in the march of Ekiti State under the incumbent Governor and his formidable policies.
Ekiti State has come a long way in a short time. From 1996 till today, it has been twenty-eight solid years of consistently trying to make the state a corridor of good governance within a larger region that is trying to become the region to watch out for in transforming the performance scorecard of governance in Nigeria. Without turning this brief address into an entire development history of Ekiti State, permit me to just highlight some brief items in the development and governance trajectories of HE Governor Oyebanji.
The government of Ekiti has a five-point development agenda consisting of governance, job creation, human capital development, agriculture and rural development, and infrastructure and industrialisation. These are key issues that any state that wants to shoulder the burden of development in Nigeria must pay adequate attention to. However, vision and visioneering are as strong as the strategies that bring the vision to tangible realities. And this is where the governance strength of the Governor lies.
Governor Biodun Oyebanji is a quiet and determined achiever. His loquaciousness is not found on social media or on national news. It is situated poignantly within the joy of good governance that resonates in the lives of Ekiti people. When a governor makes it one fundamental policy block of his administration to invest in agriculture so that there would be enough food to feed Ekiti people and as comparative advantage and source of revenue, then we should take such a governor seriously.
And when the Governor highlights Awolowo’s farm settlement strategy as the method by which he wants to bring the governance objective to pass, then we know that he has the facts of history and the confidence of development assurance behind him. The investment in the abundant energies of the Ekiti youths to resuscitate the significance of agriculture and agribusiness is a smart and sustainable governance move.
Given his promise to focus the Ekiti State fiscal policy next year on agriculture and welfare, the governor’s policy commitment to food security has already placed him and the Ekiti government in line for the achievement of seven sustainable development goals (SDGs)—No poverty, Zero hunger, Good health and well-being, Decent work and economic growth, Industry, innovation and infrastructure, as well as, Responsible consumption and production, and Partnerships for the goals. And we have not even begun to outline the significant infrastructural pedestals that the Governor has placed Ekiti state.
The reformer in me deeply appreciates the critical strides that the governor has initiated in articulating the pension reform and the land administration policy.
Focusing this seminar on public service efficiency implies the Governor and the Ekiti State government’s desire to unravel the binding constraints that limit the performance of the Ekiti State public service in delivering on the well-meaning policy intentions of the government. That in itself is a commendable effort. And I am very certain that the next two years will see the formulation of reform policies that will make the public service more performance-grounded and productive in democratic and developmental service delivery for overall benefit of the Ekiti people.
To be continued tomorrow.
Prof. Olaopa, Chairman, Federal Civil Service Commission, delivered this speech as Chairman of the 2024 Ekiti State Public Service Forum and Award of Excellence Ceremony marking the 2nd Anniversary of Governor Biodun Oyebanji, held at Lady Jibowu Hall, Government House, Ado Ekiti, recently.
