Fayemi, The Architect Of Modern Ekiti, Says Aide

By John Adeagbo

In what seems to be his untiring efforts to see that Ekiti state becomes a beehive of modern economic activities in the southwest geopolitical region, the Senior Special Assistant (Diaspora Affairs) to Ekiti state governor Mr. Femi Odere met with Aare Afe Babalola (SAN) in his office at Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD) on Thursday, September 2, 2021.

While presenting his Letter of Intent in what he described as a “strategic engagement to magnify the ABUAD Industrial Park to Nigerians in the Diaspora in general and diasporic Ekiti state indigenes in particular so that these highly trained professionals can be a significant part of the economic transformation that will inevitably take place in the state” with the Founder of the university Aare Afe Babalola, Odere said the industrial park, which is currently under construction, “is poised to redefine the concept of industrial park in Nigeria as there are no half measures in doing things when it comes to Baba.”

According to Prof. Adeyinka Adeoye,
Director of Projects and Physical Planning who gave a detailed briefing of the Park to Governor Fayemi’s aide on Diaspora Affairs, the Park is 1.9 km long that will consist of 121 factories of small, medium and large categories. The industrial park has already been sectioned into such concerns as food processing, fruits and beverages production, manufacturing of drugs and other pharmaceuticals, light tools and equipment, building materials manufacturing and so on.

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Prof. Adeoye said that the foundations for nine factories have already been laid and construction work have started in those factories namely: Pound Yam, Cassava Processing, Starch, Fufu and Gari, Pepper Drying, Rice Mill, Herbal Syrup and Capsule, Recycling and Intravenous Infusion. He said there will be uninterrupted 24/7 power and water supplies as 74 hectares of land has already been earmarked for an Independent Power Plant. The staff canteen and conference room are under construction.

 

Odere said ABUAD Industrial Park could not have come at a better time because of the Knowledge Economy and Economic Zone that were envisioned by His Excellency Dr. Kayode Fayemi, the governor of Ekiti state with work also proceeding steadily in the same axis with the Park.

“A huge economic transformation of Ekiti state is already at hand when you take into consideration the cargo airport which Dr. Fayemi has promised would be completed before the end of his tenure next year. If you throw into that axis the knowledge economy zone that’s already a construction site of its own, not to talk of a rail line already in the pipeline that will make a detour to the axis as well as the tertiary institutions like ABUAD, the Federal Polytechnic and the state-of-the-art teaching hospital all in the same environment with this industrial park, what you have is a very big game changer. We’re actually having a fantastic economic phenomenon sitting on our laps in the state. And one can therefore say without any fear of contradiction that Gov. Kayode Fayemi is the architect of modern Ekiti,” he declared.

The governor’s aide said there are even more reasons for international investors and the state’s upwardly mobile, high end professional Ekiti indigenes in the Diaspora and Friends of Ekiti who are desirous of development to look in the direction of the state because in a population of about 3million people, 60 percent of the state’s population are youths.

“The state has 85 percent adult literacy and 95 percent youth literacy levels which are considered to be the highest in the country. This is a mouthwatering, easy-to-train workforce for any astute investor. We’re in the top 3 brackets in academic per capita among the 36 states in the country,” Odere emphasized.

The SSA to Governor Fayemi on Diaspora Affairs thanked Aare Afe Babalola for having contributed more than any Ekiti indigene, dead or alive, to the economic development of Ekiti state.

In his remarks, Aare Babalola said he was glad that the governor’s aide recognized the great potential of the Park and that he’s very willing to get involved in making it a great success he had envisaged. “I can see that you’re a man of vision,” Chief Babalola commended.

The first phase of the industrial park is slated to be commissioned in November 2021.

PHOTOS

Photo 1: Mr. Femi Odere, SSA Diaspora Affairs to Ekiti State Governor (right) poses with Aare Afe Babalola (SAN) in his office.

Photo 2: Prof. Adeyinka Adeoye (right) briefing Mr. Femi Odere about ABUAD Industrial Park at Aare Babalola’s conference room.

Photos 3-6: At the Park under construction with Prof. Adeoye.

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