The Ekiti State Governor-elect, Biodun Oyebanji, will today be inaugurated as the governor of the state for a term of four years following the expiration of the four-year tenure of Governor Kayode Fayemi.
Oyebanji, who was the candidate of the All Progressives Congress was declared the winner of the June 18 governorship election by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
Meanwhile, Fayemi, whose tenure came to an end on Saturday, October 15, has assured the residents that dilapidated federal roads in the state will be given attention to bring relief to the users and complement the Ekiti State Agro-Allied Passenger International Airport.
The airport along Ijan-Ado Road in the state capital marked the last project inaugurated for use by his administration
Speaking on Saturday at the inauguration of the airport, the governor said he, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Adeniyi Adebayo; and the Ewi of Ado Ekiti, Oba Adeyemo Adejugbe, had been making representations to the Federal Government on the state of federal roads in Ekiti.
Fayemi, who expressed satisfaction with the success of the project 10 years after its conception during his first administration in 2012, especially on the last day of his administration, said, “Upon my assumption of office in 2018, I appointed aviation experts and industry-related officials to kickstart the implementation of the project. They made several visits to communities in order to meet the requirements for the establishment of the airport.
“As a government that adheres strictly to the rule of law with unwavering respect for the rights of our people, we made several appeals to communities affected for enumeration of their farmlands to ensure commensurate monetary compensation is paid on their crops. To this end, a total of 669 claimants were duly compensated out of those that presented themselves for the exercise. We acquired 4,017 hectares of land from nine communities: Ago Aduloju, Aso Ayegunle, Bolorunduro, Igbogun, Araromi, Obbo, Afao, Orun, Igbemo, and Ijan, covering three local government areas in the state. My job is done, Ekiti Kete.”
The Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, who inaugurated the project, disclosed that the Federal Government would site a cargo facility at the airport, which he described as “an extremely very important project” that would facilitate the import and export of goods and commodities and drive the state’s economy.
Sirika added, “I was at ABUAD. I saw the university, the farm, the industrial park, and the hospital. If there is an airport here, it will connect people to this facility and reduce foreign medical tourism. Airports are by no means the best catalysts for the economic growth of any state or nation. Thirty-five per cent of global trade by value is moved through airports and $18.6 billion of cargo is moved daily through air transportation. You can be land-locked, but you cannot be sky-locked. We can all see the importance of having a facility like this. Thank you, Mr Governor, you have provided this facility for the people of Ekiti State; they should own it, they should own it.
