News -- Ekiti is viable for business, says Adelaja

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Ekiti is viable for business, says Adelaja

By LEKAN BILESANMI
Sunday, July 11, 2004

The director-general of the Small and Medium Scale Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Mrs. Modupe Adelaja, says Ekiti State is viable for business going by the infrastructure government has put in place in the state in the last 13 months. Excerpts of interview.

WHAT brought you to Ekiti State'?

I am in Ekiti State to flag off the survey/census of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises, which is part of my mandate as the Director General of the Small and Medium Scale Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN).

So, what do you, as an agency of the Federal Government, hope to achieve at the end of your visit? I presume it won't be like the usual visits of dignitaries celebrated with so much funfair but without concrete actions thereafter.

No, no, no, not at all. This visit will be historic simply because it will leave foot points in the sands of time and in hearts of the people of Ekiti.

Governor Fayose has already set the ball rolling by creating the enabling environment through the development of social infrastructure. Our job will actually be made easy with the state government initiative of developing a computerised data base of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises in the state as a rider to its internally generated revenue, which I hear skyrocketed from a paltry 30 million naira per month to 1O1 million naira monthly and my heart almost jumped into my month as I wondered where have all these hidden treasures been. So the mission of SMEDAN in Ekiti will really complement government efforts in a spirit of partnership that works.

You will agree that this is the central theme of modern day business the world over - cooperation and pooling of resources together to maximise potentials.

With the kind of mutual cooperation, respect and the spirit of camaraderie that exist between the state and the council chairmen in Ekiti, we should have no problems in translating our policy thrust into action in the areas of reduction in unemployment through job creation, wealth creation and increase in economic and social welfare, poverty reduction and alleviation, increased utilization of local raw materials, backward integration and intra business linkages, reducing cost of doing business through improved access to business information and infrastructure, reduction in rural-urban migration. improving living standards of rural and urban population and rapid national economic growth and development.

These 9-point agenda are in tandem with the policy thrust of Ekiti State and by extension the national economic reforms of the federal government to kick start the economy into today's international global village.

Let us look at the exercise within the context of the remoteness, size and the low commercial sector of Ekiti state with a predominance of civil servants, is it really worth your while?

On the contrary, we at SMEDAN headquarters in Abuja have a different opinion. This is because reports at our disposal, which actually precipitated this visit, say government is pioneering a multi-sectoral reform effort, which on the long run will provide an enabling environment for the growth of small and medium scale enterprises in accordance with our vision as an agency.

It is indeed heartwarming that the state government is addressing the lack of basic social infrastructure with a pragmatic approach, a scenario which had hitherto been the bane of investment flow into the state. I mean the lack of water, electricity and bad roads which made the overhead cost of doing business in Ekiti to be very high was a nightmare which scared off potential investors.

It is quite interesting that the state government is collaborating with the local government councils to execute some of these projects jointly, all in the interest of the masses and ultimately for the growth and development of the economy. We hear that the issue of water is being addressed with the purchase of a water rig estimated at 60 million naira, four new tankers, 500KVA generator for the waterworks in Ado the capital, while Mr. President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, has given his nod for intervention and support in the resuscitation of major dams in the state for maximum distribution of water throughout the nooks and crannies of the state for a higher and longer life expectancy of the citizens

Furthermore, we are pleased that the issue of electricity is also being tackled alongside. Transformers have been bought for the 16 councils as a stop gap measure while plans are being finalised for the completion of the 132 KVA project.

Style of the governor

Now the style of the governor, Mr. Peter Ayo Fayose, whom I often, fondly, refer to as " my own brother", in galvanising, and mobilizing, the common man is very very endearing and unique. May I recall during the heat of the national campaign by the PDP in 2003, I accompanied President Olusegun Obasanjo to Ekiti State and I could not hold back tears from my eyes as I saw people in their multitudes lining the streets and openly displayed their support for Mr. Fayose who wasn't an incumbent but an aspirant. I knew in my heart that he would win and I am glad that today a year after, he has sustained the interest and welfare of the people in the execution of all his programmes and policies.

We were also delighted at SMEDAN, to watch on television and read in the dailies that Governor Fayose led a strong delegation of first class Obas in the state to visit President Obasanjo at the villa in Aso Rock and some of the fallouts of the meeting was the agreement of the Federal Government to dualize Ado Ekiti township roads at 100 million naira and construct Ado lworoko Otun-Omu Aran Road to open up and boost commerce. So, to answer your question, generally I say that we are happy at the giant strides of the young man in cutting the edge in developmental initiatives and we are really, really proud to identify with him and his government.

You seem to know so much about the goings-on in Ekiti State.

As a true patriot and particularly as a DG of a business organisation like SMEDAN, we need information about various activities of state governments in Nigeria to enable synergy between us and them. From our headquarters in Abuja, we have watched Ekiti with keen interest and I must register our pleasure with Governor Fayose's pro-active measures supported with concrete actions, which have provided a fertile base for SMEDAN initiatives to flourish.

From all indications, he is doing a good job and it's a testimony to the leadership potentials of the youth and a challenge to the young generation to have a re-think and refocus on the craze for materialism to virtues of hardwork, honesty and integrity.

In the planning of these your vision for Ekiti, did you consider the attitude of the people as low risk takers, an attribute which can be explained by their love for education rather than the risky world of business?

Yes I agree, at the mention of Ekiti, what readily comes to mind is book, book and book. It is no surprise that they are referred to as the fountain of knowledge. But the attitude you talked about is fast changing now through the dynamism and revolution injected and spearheaded by Governor Fayose. Even the education industry you mentioned had a dose of the revolution.

There was a policy shift from the free education of yesteryears, after a summit, where all stakeholders unanimously agreed to pay a token for their children's school fees to restore the standards of the past which were steadily going down the drains as evidenced by the poor performance of college students in public examination.

So, the quick response of government was to clear the backlog of debts owed by the immediate past government and inject a new blood into the system to achieve excellence.

Now on the attitude of the people, the resultant effect of the revolution, is that it is a new song, a new clime and indeed a new beginning.

It might interest you to know that Ekiti is now on the website, which I consider a major business breakthrough. The people, I, believe, are cultivating a new business posture and attitude for the betterment of their lives.

Do you have any advice for the people of the state?

Well I just want to make a clarion call for all and when I say all I mean all the Ekiti family no matter your political learning to close ranks and join the re-building process. It is time to re-build the young state from the ashes of yesterday for the state to be on the forward match with their older colleagues in other parts of Nigeria. Elections have come and gone. Bickering and wrangling are clogs in the wheel of progress. I want to urge all and sundry to join the boat of development in the interest of the founding fathers of the state, who agitated for the state creation for years on end barring all odds to have a separate identity in the Nigerian project.

Now that the state has come, the sweat, sacrifice and good intention of the prime mover of the idea, which definitely has a spiraling positive bandwagon effect on this generation and those yet unborn, should not be frittered and wished away on the altar of playing politics and chasing shadows.

Ekiti is not the only state where power changed hands in the last general elections, but in four other South West states. Interestingly the opposition in these five other states are not as vociferous and destructive as can be observed in Ekiti State. I mean taking a drive round Ado, even as you enter the boundaries of the state as a traveller or a visitor, the change is obvious for the blind to see.

Look, I believe that Mr Fayose has a divine mandate of four years. The beauty of democracy as against military rule is that it has its in-built mechanisms for checks and balances. It is powered by people and a majority. It is very straightforward. I mean if you do well, you get the majority approval and if you fail to deliver, you get the boot, that's all. No story. No excuses for failure. There is a time for reckoning.