The Ekiti State Football Association has inaugurated a committee to coordinate the second edition of the Dr. John Kayode Fayemi football competition. The sport event popularly known as JKF Youth Cup is an annual football competition for under 17 boys and girls in Ekiti State.

At the inauguration, the State Commissioner for Youth and Sports, Hon Michael Awopetu commended the initiative, noted that the event would complement the efforts of the Dr. Fayemi led administration in the area of sports development among young people in the State.

Hon. Awopetu, who assured the association of Government support, charged the newly inaugurated members of the committee to make this year’s tournament worthwhile and memorable.

He said: “I want to assure you that my ministry will support the success of this competition, knowing fully well that football has the capacity to promote and strengthen unity among our youth”

Also speaking, the Special Assistant to Ekiti State Governor on Sports, Mr. Kola Owoseni who also double as the chairman of the JKF Youth Cup Committee disclosed that best hands were meticulously selected to form the members of the committee in order to get the best out of the tournament.

In his remarks, the Chairman Ekiti Football Association, Mr Bayo Olanlege appreciated members of the committee for accepting to take up the onerous task with a promise that his administration would be committed to grassroots football development in the state.

Olanlege said the JKF under-17 football competition was established in honour of Governor Kayode Fayemi for his special love and attention towards sports development in the state

Amongst the committee members are Gabriel Adesoji (AngelGabby), Alabi Tolulope, Ayodeji Aladesanmi, Mr.. Daramola S.O. and Mrs.Olusola Osetoba.

Fayemi's Wife launches Obinrin Kete women Empowerment Programme
…. Inaugurates Local Government GBV Committees

Ekiti State First Lady, Erelu Bisi Fayemi on Monday launched the Obirin kete Empowerment Programme aimed at empowering and building capacity of Ekiti women.

The programme is in collaboration with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Ekiti State office.
Erelu Fayemi said the vision of the Obirin Kete women empowerment program is a future in which Ekiti Women are prosperous, empowered, productive and engaged.

The Wife of the Governor said the idea of the Obirin Kete initiative started in 2014 when she was approached by some women groups. She said the initiative has led to massive empowerment and support for women since then.

Specifically, she said the Obinrin Kete tour embarked upon by her office in September 2019 provided an opportunity to empower many women with grants for business across the 16 local government in the state.

Speaking further, she said a common complaint she received from the women is the lack of engagement with communities at grassroots level, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic as ,leaders are not able to visit their communities due to the restrictions in place. This, she said informed the establishment of the Women Empowerment Teams for each local government and were inaugurated on September 21st and 22nd 2020.

“The Women Empowerment Teams in all the local governments will support my efforts (and those of the government) with monitoring, timely information dissemination and advocacy on areas such as Economic Empowerment through Obirin Kete Ward Cooperatives, Monitoring impact of government policies on women and Support for Gender Based Violence Committees at LGA level

“Other areas include Support for Keep Girls in School Initiative, advocacy against Female Genital Mutilation, access to Primary Health Care at Community Level, access to Agricultural Opportunities, HIV/AIDS Awareness, COVID19 Awareness amongst women, Care for the Elderly Programs and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene programs (WASH)”

She identified the Women Empowerment Teams in all local government to include, Female political office holders; Wives of local government chairmen; Female Councillors; Community Development officers; Female house of assembly members; Forum of women in Leadership members(FOWIL); Forum of spouses of Ekiti State Officials (FOSESO); and the Women Associations and Networks.

The First Lady explained that the flagship project of the Obirin Kete Women Empowerment Program will be the Obirin Kete Cooperatives. She explained that there would be two Obirin Kete Cooperatives in each ward, which means there will be a total of 354 cooperatives to start with.

“ They will comprise women of good standing nominated by the WET teams in the respective local governments. The beneficiaries of the cooperative programs should be poor and vulnerable women who have identified a means of livelihood they want to pursue.

The Local governments Gender Based Violence (GBV) committee to be led by the wives of local government chairmen was also inaugurated at the event. The First Lady encouraged those who are yet to inaugurate the committee in their local governments to make sure they do so before the close of the Global 16 Days of Activism on December 10th.

The Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development , Alhaja Mariam Ogunlade, in her welcome address described The First Lady as a leader who has laid a good legacy for others to follow. She expressed optimism that the programme aimed at raising entrepreneurs in the State will be a success.

Present at the event were Ekiti State Head of Service, Mrs Peju Babafemi; Commissioner for Trade and Industry, Aare Muyiwa Olomilua; Commissioner for Women Affairs, Alhaja Mariam Ogunlade; Special Adviser Communications and Strategy, Mrs Sola Salako-Ajulo; SSA SDGs Mrs Bola Solanke, Commissioner Budget & Economic Planning, Hon. Femi Ajayi; Special Adviser, Social Investments, Barrister Victor Kolade.

Insecurity: Fayemi urges FG to sharpen intelligence collection, address poverty, unemployment,

The Governor of Ekiti State, Dr Kayode Fayemi has called on the Federal Government to sharpen its intelligence collection and tackle the root causes of insecurity in the country including poverty, unemployment, under-employment and lack of adequate education.
Governor Fayemi who noted that everyone in the country is feeling the pang of insecurity in one form of the other, said government needed to get to the roots of the menace of insecurity nationally in a bid to effectively address it.

Dr Fayemi stated this in Ado-Ekiti on Monday when he received members of the Board of Trustees of the Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation, led by its Chairman and former Governor of Niger State, Dr Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, in his office.

The Chairman of Nigeria Governors’ Forum said while intelligence gathering and sharing amongst relevant security agencies was important, addressing other sociological factors like poverty, unemployment and lack of adequate education are critical.

He said the NGF would continue to engage the Federal Government to ensure that the country was safe for all.

“We are all feeling the pang of insecurity in Nigeria, whatever we can do as a nation, nobody is interested in your excuses, once you are governor, you are in charge of the security of your people, so whatever you can do to ensure that you deliver the goods to them in terms of security, you have to do it.

"And we are constantly engaging the federal authority on this, that they should ensure that we develop a framework that would sharpen intelligence collection and also begin to address not just insecurity but the causes of insecurity and we all know the origin and causes of insecurity, poverty is a big issue, lack of education, lack of employment, under-employment, all these factors are critical, so we cannot just look at security on the surface, we must address the sociological underpinnings of insecurity and then work out precisely what we must do.” Governor Fayemi said.

Speaking further, the governor, who posited that education remained the greatest antidote to poverty, said education should be refocused at the national level due to its importance to national development.

“Education in Nigeria should be treated nationally. It requires a national approach, it cannot just be isolated state by state, and particularly for regulatory purpose, in terms of standard of the curriculum and in terms of supervisory engagement. We really need to do things that will make us appear as if cherish the importance of education in the lives of our citizens. The governor noted.

He said his administration has done a lot to improve education in the state including abolishing all forms of fee payment up to Senior Secondary three, payment of running grants to schools as well as equipping the system for better service delivery.

On the lingering strike action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Dr Fayemi urged the Federal Government and relevant stakeholders in the education sector to have an urgent engagement with the leadership of ASUU in order to bring an end to the current impasse.

He also urged the lecturers to look at the hardship the students and their parents are going through in view of the strike that has kept the students at home for over seven months.

“We need to get to a point of convergence with ASUU, but I also think ASUU should begin to look at this from the position of their importance. It is the students of the ordinary Nigerians who attend the local universities. So, even if it is for the sake of ordinary Nigerians who have children in these universities and cannot afford to send their children to private universities or abroad.

“Whatever the areas are, we would like to engage them, not as Federal Government but as concerned parties at the level of government who feel that we can still work out an arrangement in which you don’t completely dictate to your employer how he pays your salaries.

“If agreement has been entered into and if it is not going to be honoured, you owe a duty to urge other party to review it consensually and then come up with something that is mutually acceptable to both sides.

Dr Fayemi said he was glad to see the Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation carrying on with the vision of the late leader and working with the governors in Northern Nigeria particularly and across the country in general to begin to find ways to refocus energy on education, which is the antidote to poverty.

Earlier, Dr Babangida Aliyu had told the Governor that the Foundation was established as an instrument for the promotion of the ideals of Sir Ahmadu Bello and to promote the development of Northern Nigeria which prompted the foundation to commission a research in support of efforts to improve education in the region.

The former Governor berated the high level of out-of-school children in the North and posited that the problem of education in the North requires a national approach. He therefore called on the Governor in his capacity as the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum to spearhead the formation of an endowment fund to revamp education in the North, believing that the effort would go a long way to bridge the divide and erase some acrimonious feelings.

The former governor also urged Dr Fayemi to urgently address the cankerworm of general insecurity, gender-based violence and education deficit in the North urging him to also call on well-meaning northerners and Nigerians including policy makers to have a careful look at these issues with a view to making an adequate policies that would take care of it.

AT AREWA HOUSE LECTURE, FAYEMI CANVASSES POWER DEVOLUTION AS PANACE TO MARGINALISATION

…..URGES URGENT ACTION TO MAKE NIGERIA WORK FOR THE YOUTH

The Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has advocated a restructuring that will cement the unity of Nigeria and engender a perfect union among its peoples irrespective of their ethnic, religious, cultural and linguistic differences.

He also suggested an equitable revenue allocation formula that will speak to the federalism Nigeria has adopted and give more resources to states and local governments which carry more responsibilities.

According to him, a review of the sharing formulae to 43 per cent for states, 35 per cent to the federal and 23 per cent to the local governments will go a long way to devolve more responsibilities to constituent units and reduce the concentration of powers at the centre.

The Governor made the remarks on Saturday while speaking as the guest lecturer at the 50th Anniversary of the Centre for Historical Documentation and Research (Arewa House) in Kaduna.
Speaking on the topic, "Unfinished Greatness...Towards a More Perfect Union in Nigeria," Dr. Fayemi, who is also the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors' Forum (NGF) said building Nigeria to the status of a country that commands global respect is a continuous work in progress.
Dr. Fayemi who insisted that the 1914 amalgamation of the Northern and Southern Protectorates by the British was not a mistake as some have argued, adding that the country can use the diversity to achieve greatness if Nigerians would utilize the inherent opportunities.

He appealed to Nigerians to come together and urgently tackle issues that divide them if the dreams of the founding fathers including the late Premier of Northern Nigeria, Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto are to be realised by the present generation.

The Ekiti State Governor said all ethnic nationalities should be made to feel important in the Nigerian project hence preference should not be given to a particular ethnic group over others.
Dr. Fayemi explained that Nigeria, with over 250 ethnic nationalities has managed its diversity whereas some countries in Eastern Europe had balkanized into smaller nations while Britain is yet to find a definitive answer to the Irish, Welsh and Scottish question.

Dr Fayemi however identified sincerity in handling the issue of restructuring as a means of giving assurance to stakeholders of the Nigerian project that achieving greatness through unity in diversity was still possible.

He argued that issues of devolution of powers, decentralisation, restructuring and such other concepts should not be clothed in ethnic or regional toga but be used as an opportunity to re-imagine and reinvent our country to make it work well for everyone.

Dr. Fayemi said: "In essence, our desire to build a more perfect union should be anchored on the principle of devolution of powers – that is, re-allocation of powers and resources to the country’s federating units. The reasons for this are not far-fetched.

"First, long years of military rule has produced an over-concentration of powers and resources at the centre to the detriment of the states. Two, the 1999 constitution, as has been argued by several observers, was hurriedly put together by the departing military authority and was not a product of sufficient inclusiveness.

"Part of the focus of such an exercise should be: what items should remain on the exclusive legislative list and which ones should be transferred to the concurrent list? Other topical issues include derivation principle; fiscal federalism and revenue allocation; land tenure, local government creation and autonomy; etc.

"All points considered, the fiscal burden of maintaining a largely inefficient and over-bloated bureaucracy is a metaphor for shooting oneself on the foot."

According to him, the evolution of Nigeria’s federalism has not served Nigeria's best interests and it is not surprising that the polity has witnessed protests at every attempts at constitutional reengineering.

Two prominent examples, he noted, were the 2005 Constitutional Reform Conference convened by President Obasanjo’s administration and the 2014 National Conference at the instance of ex- President Goodluck Jonathan.

He explained that in the two conferences, the delicate issue remains that of restructuring (often dubbed Devolution of Power, Decentralisation, True Federalism, etc.) asking "But for how long can we continue to run away from this issue and continue to pretend that somehow it would resolve itself someday?"

Alluding to recent nationwide protests by youths, Governor Fayemi said it was high time the nation's leaders looked into ways to solve problems which turned an innocuous online protests over police brutality into an avenue to challenge perceived failures to meet demands for good governance.

He said: "This is why anyone who holds a semblance of power or authority in this country should be deeply worried by the events of the past few weeks. What started as an innocuous online protest over police brutality snowballed before our very eyes into a mass movement that assumed more frightening dimensions.

"From the demand to #EndSARS, we have seen vigorous demands for greater accountability, and greater efficiency in government. What I understand the youths to be saying is that we the older generation have failed them by our inability to create a system that supports their dreams and accommodate their aspirations.

"From the language of their protests, we can see clearly that our youths feel pushed to the margin of our nation’s socio-political and economic structures. It is incumbent on us to listen to what they are saying and a lot more to what they are probably not saying yet.

"For over a decade, several analysts have noted that our massive youth population could be a major demographic advantage to our country if it is properly harnessed. Years of neglect and failure to make the right investments to support this population is now, quite predictably, turning it to a major disruptive force and a time bomb.

"I am afraid that the bomb has started to tick, we must therefore act fast and start now to create systems that provides opportunities for our young people and make it possible for them to attain their God-given potentials.

"In responding to the challenges that this moment imposes on us, we must recognise that a business-as-usual approach will no longer be sufficient. What we need is a fundamental re-engineering of our governance system in a way that will make our country work better for everyone.

"I understand the recent protest as a discursive signal that encapsulates the frustration of our young people at multiple levels. We must therefore engage it as such and try to focus on the opportunities that the situation presents." He added.

Fayemi, who cited the works of Ben Okri and Uthman Dan Fodio, in the lecture concluded that there was urgent need to address injustice if Nigerians truly want the system to work.
" A kingdom can endure with unbelief, but cannot endure with injustice”. May we have the courage and the conviction to confront injustice in our country and make Nigeria work for all of us" he added.