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Babatunde Oyeniyan

Engineer and Quality Manager with a multi-national

Lagos, Nigeria.

A governor's burden.

NIGERIA: Putting the past behind us.

A governor's burden.
by Babatunde Oyeniyan

Governing is serious business, especially in a small homogeneous state like Ekiti. What we are currently seeing unfolding in the state is very sad. We should have gone past this a long time ago. It is rather unfortunate. But it is cheering news that so many illustrious sons of the state are now interested in serving their fatherland. I wish the best person would eventually become the governor of Ekiti state come May 2007. The person with the right intent, and the best ability to carry out such good intent, combined.

The tasks before him/her are many and arduous; I do not envy the next governor of Ekiti at all. I’m not writing about the deputy of the incumbent, which everyone is touting to succeed him. I’m interested in a duly elected and sane person. But, nevertheless it is still a noble assignment and very well worth the devotion of energy, time and skills. Ekiti state is blessed and highly endowed, the state has the highest number of university professors in the whole country, no state comes close to it, teachers and lecturers in different field of learning. It is impossible to bamboozle the people; almost every clan has a professor, and every family definitely have a university graduate. Sometimes, I’m tempted to think that impacting knowledge is a natural calling of the Ekiti people. I know I may not be too far from the truth.

We also have some many men and women in the state that have highly distinguish themselves in the business world, law practice, engineering, scientific research and public administration. In fact, in all areas of life. These people are very sensitive, urbane and mentally alert, it takes a great deal of wisdom and grace to serve them. The next governor of the state will need to have the mental capability as well as management skills to handle extremely diverse positions and completely antagonistic individuals without becoming a tyrant. From my little experience, this is challenging even with fifty to one hundred people.

Ekiti state is a peculiar situation; it is about the only homogeneous, indivisible state in the whole country. In Ekiti, you will find a very highly learned university professor with excellent manners, who speaks queens English in the remotest village in his full farm gear, speaking the local dialect. We are a no nonsense and very upright people, at least by nature. The next governor must be ready to come clean with the people or else he will soon make a lot of enemies for himself just like the incumbent. We do not accept riches unless it is from a known and honest source. And we do not even take it lightly with people with ill-gotten wealth to roost by our hut. The implication of these in simple terms is that the governor of the state must be honest and upright in the true meaning of the word.

The state needs a governor who will not insult our elders; a governor who will not hunt down the young men who are supposed to be the future of the state; a governor who is learned; a governor who is sincere; a good administrator; someone with a clean bill of health. I know it is very hard to find such people, but there are still some in the state. Without this, it is going to be another turbulent tenure for the next governor. Ekiti state will not tolerate a dishonest and inept leader. I do not think this is asking for too much from one person.

Another big issue the next governor of Ekiti state will have to contend with is our recent past. These fine people have been mistreated, insulted, humiliated and rubbished; we will watch every move of the next person who may be in a position to visit such evil on our dear state. The people are weary and exasperated with the quality of governors we have had, the truth is that they have not met our expectations, and our expectations as a people are not unreasonable. Ekiti people just want a governor that can listen to them, a situation where they will make meaningful inputs and they will not be shut down. It is hard to oppress the learned; they cannot be expected to keep mum, especially when the situation is not what it should be. This is not meddling. They have to participate and have a say in the governance of their state, the next governor will have to live with and even accept that or become the enemy of the people again. It is possible for a governor in Ekiti state to be popular, to be a friend of the people. He/She will just have to be one of the people that are right for the job. Ekiti governor is expected to be humane and peace loving, he should be able to engage the enormous intellect and passion resident in the people. The next governor will have to be sensitive to all these issues to make any reasonable impact. From the erudite professor to the hard-palmed farmer, from the astute businessman to the produce trader, from the research scientist to the classroom teacher. We all have something to offer the state.

The next governor will also have to work within the limited resources allocated to the state. Ekiti state is one of the states with the least monetary allocation (if not the very least) in the whole country. We all know that the next governor cannot do everything. But, he will have to lay the foundation to start the development of the state. He will have to create the most basic infrastructures with the resources at hand. To do this, a lot of frivolities and excesses will have to be eliminated. The state governing council will have to be as lean as possible. This is to reduce the amount of the state income that goes into maintaining government staff so we free up money for other more important projects that affects the life of the people. The next governor of Ekiti state will have to be an excellent resource manager.

This is just to mention a few of the numerous obstacles the next governor will have to overcome in Ekiti state. I believe having a governor like the one we have is a very important learning point for the people that all that glitters is not gold. The current governor asking to be a governor in a state like Ekiti is a question that should not have come up in the first place. I believe we have learnt, I also believe the next elected governor will take a very valuable lesson from all these. He/She has a big burden, no doubt. But there is the benefit of the recent history. I sincerely pray the next governor of Ekiti state will succeed. If nothing at all, there is an opportunity to do better than the previous ones.

"We also have some many men and women in the state that have highly distinguish themselves in the business world, law practice, engineering, scientific research and public administration. In fact, in all areas of life. These people are very sensitive, urbane and mentally alert, it takes a great deal of wisdom and grace to serve them. The next governor of the state will need to have the mental capability as well as management skills to handle extremely diverse positions and completely antagonistic individuals without becoming a tyrant. From my little experience, this is challenging even with fifty to one hundred people.."