The Governor of Ekiti State, Dr Kayode Fayemi, has told members of his cabinet that the next two years are crucial for the administration’s effort at making a difference in the lives of the people as well as building lasting legacy.
This, he said has made it incumbent on them to remain focused on improving service delivery and actualising the promises made to the people of the State as entrenched in the five pillars of his administration.
He also advised those who might be distracted by the pursuit of interests other than the development agenda of the administration to find a way to quit honorably.
Speaking at the opening session of a two-day high level retreat for members of the state executive council , permanent secretaries and other top functionaries in Ado Ekiti on Thursday, Fayemi said “Finishing Well” is key to sustaining progressive governance that would provide the right direction and leadership for the people of state.
According to him, top officials of the government must not allow the collective mission to become impaired by personal pursuit, adding ” where it becomes impossible for anyone to stay in line with the rest of us, those who may want to priotise their next political move above the need to deliver our recurrent mandate would be allowed to seek the permission to excuse themselves so as to have time to focus on their individual ambition.”
Continuing he said; “What we cannot do at this time is to allow division, indiscipline, working in silo and working across purposes to derail the work at hand, there is still a lot to be done in the remaining two years in spite of the many successes we have recorded.”
Speaking on the import of the theme of the retreat: “Finishing Well and Sustaining Progressive Leadership in Ekiti Strate”, the Governor said the retreat, among other things, was held to review, evaluate and reflect on performance in the last two years, devise new strategies for services delivery, align new appointees with the vison and mission of the administration as spelt out in 2019 Iloko declaration and to review policies in relation to budget, project and programmes.
He spoke just as the Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola and former Borno State Governor, Senator Ibrahim Shettima, renowned economist, Dr Ayodeji Teriba, and Senator Olubummi Adetumbi spoke on how to achieve impactful and successful tenure.
Fayemi said the choice of both Fashola and Shettima was made unanimously by the planning committee members who felt Ekiti officials had a lot to gain from the experiences of the two former governors.
Major highlights of the retreat include participation via teleconferencing, a development that allowed some of the top government officials to participate from their offices and from outside the state.
Fashola, in his presentation, hailed the idea of mid- term retreat for performance evaluation.
Sharing his experience as two- term Governor of Lagos State, Fashola charged the political appointees to take ownership of governance and remain focus in delivering the mandate committed to their hands by Ekiti people.
He also urged them to see criticism as necessary ingredient of growth. “When they ask you to do more, see it as a vote of confidence in your ability” he counselled.
Shettima, who spoke on ” Making a choice of Successor”, identified competence, patience, capability, integrity, maturity and acceptability as key factors to be considered in nominating a successor.
Adetumbi, who recalled the milestones achieved between May 2019 when the first retreat was held and this year, said it was heart warming to note that the state is now in the news for the right reasons.
He urged the Ekiti government officials to work towards making the state self sustaining in terms of economic development.
This, he said, would be achieved by building on current achievements in agriculture and other sub sectors.
