As a true born of Ekiti descent, two important aspects of our culture I grew up to know are pounded yam as a meal, and academic excellence as a lifestyle. These two are sacrosanct!

In those days, even till late 90s, any family who could not provide pounded yam as dinner for his family members would be seen as paupers. And any individual who could not thrive in academic would be seen as a second class citizen. As a matter of fact, school dropouts had no voice in the society. Brilliant students and their families were so much respected, back then.

Every community had its Student's Union, SU, whose members were students of higher institutions mainly. This SU used to organize summer lessons for secondary school students ,free of charge, during long vacations. There was nothing like thugs, touts, and the likes , back then. People in that category normally saw themselves as unfortunate, and would rather hide their faces in the society.

Unfortunately, in the last one or two decades, as we entered democracy, some politicians began to use the same dropouts, thugs, touts, etc, for political campaigns; and therefore began to give them some relevance in Ekiti State. We began to see rein of cultism, gangsterism, etc in our homeland. Many of these destitutes were even given some political offices. Before you knew it, the zeal for academic excellence began to wane. All that mattered was just to get money anyhow, get intoxicated by alcohol, get women, roam the streets, etc. Some politicians, who unbelievably kept their own children in good schools outside Ekiti State, even outside Nigeria, would see these destitutes on the streets, stop their convoys, and ordered more alcohols for them. Atimes, same politicians may even sit with them and pop alcohol and pepper soup, and cheered them up, in other to gain what they called street credibility or acceptance. Before you knew it, Ekiti began to dip in academic ratings.

But today, we thank God Ekiti sun has risen again. The glory of Ekiti is coming back again. The culture of excellence is here with us again. The man in the helm of affairs in Ekiti State, Dr John Kayode Fayemi, has placed a high premium on Education. This is very commendable! Education is now free to secondary school level in Ekiti. INSTEAD OF CELEBRATING TOUTS, STREET URCHINS, THUGS, DESTITUTES AT BEER PALORS, MOTOR PARKS, ETC; WE NOW CELEBRATE THE REAL OMOLUABIS! The real achievers! This is commendable! Instead free beer, free pepper soup, etc, our pupils now get free education. Instead of guns , machetes, etc, to disturb public peace, the government now gives deserving students scholarships to further their academic pursuits. That's the true culture of Ekiti.

Before now, the magnanimous effort of the highly cerebral Dr. Aarinola Olaiya would have gone unnoticed. But today the story has changed. What the government has done by celebrating this icon would go a long way in motivating the upcoming ones.

Let me congratulate Dr. Aariola Olaiya and her family; Let me also congratulate HIS EXCELLENCY, DR. JOHN KAYODE FAYEMI, THE EXECUTIVE GOVERNOR OF EKITI STATE, as well as Ekiti Kete on this great feat. Ekiti State has produced the best MEDICAL DOCTOR ever from the great Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife, Osun State. This is victory for us all. Let's keep the fire burning!

Congratulations, Ekiti Kete. Ekiti agbea oooooooooooo

Ekiti will rise again above the stomach infrastructural policies of the kpomo engineer, Fayose.