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Chairman, People Democratic Party, Ekiti State, Nigeria

Forwarded by: FEMI AJAYI

THE RELEVANCE OF EKITI STATE IN THE INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE NIGERIA NEW FRONTIER

ood afternoon ladies and gentlemen. My sincere warm greetings to all of you present here today. More importantly, I want to congratulate you, the members of the Ekiti Associations in North America, for your vision, your thoughts and the love of your homeland state in Nigeria. Thank you for hosting this convention.

Furthermore, I must also tell you that it is an honor for me to be with you representing the people of Ekiti State and, more importantly, our newly elected governor who cannot be with you today because of his busy schedule. On his behalf, I'm happy to be here to express his views about the on-going debate, dialogue, and sourcing for making our state the industrial power base of the southwest in the Nigeria New Frontier.

Knowing that Ekiti indigenes and Nigerian citizens in North America are interested in industrial development of our newly created state, I for one believe that Ekiti State with all its human and natural resources will meet the industrial goals of the new southwest.

Why do I use the term "new southwest"? Well, anyone who closely observed the last election in Nigeria knows that the face of our political landscape has changed, and changed forever, in the southwest. The southwest elected one of its own, our president Obasanjo, without any question or doubt, to a second term in office. This, in itself, points to a new political landscape.

In this process, the Ekiti indigenes in North America and in other places outside Nigeria have a role to play and a contribution to make to our beloved state, to help achieve what we have dreamt our state could be.

Your individual contributions of time, experience, knowledge and ideas are needed to achieve this goal. Nigeria, and more specifically Ekiti State, belongs to all of us. It is the place we call home. The industrial development of our homeland state is everyone's responsibility.

Most of you are aware that our beloved state is less than 8 years old with a population of fewer than 2 million people. We are just about the size of Nebraska or West Virginia. Forty-five percent of the population lives in non-metropolitan counties or rural towns, and the state has an annual budget of less than $6 billion dollars.

But we know that our state is the power base of knowledge in Nigeria, endowed with richness in human and natural resources. It is this reservoir of human knowledge that we, the people of Ekiti, must transform into the new southwest industrial power base of the Nigeria New Frontier.

We owe it to our state, our country, our children and grandchildren to transform this fountain of knowledge we have in Ekiti State into a new southwest industrial powerhouse. This is the vision of our newly elected Governor Fayose. We, the people of Ekiti, must use our time and our talents, and bring all those PhDs, MBAs, MDs, B.SCs and our industrial experience to bear in helping this governor build the industrial base needed for our state.

Why is Ekiti State's industrial development relevant to the Nigeria New Frontier?

My fellow Ekiti indigenes in North America, our state is at a crossroads and stands as a unique state in the history of our country. Our state has the potential to be a model for other states in Nigeria if we bring our talents together. If we are to achieve the industrial and economic development and the vision articulated by Governor Fayose, we all need to be participants - not just observers.

Having articulated the vision for our state, we see that there are some specific economic and industrial technology obstacles that must be addressed.

• First, our telecommunications network in the state is almost nonexistent. With a population of about 1.6 million, those with telephone systems in their homes number fewer than 10,000. Many offices, including some state government offices, private industries and businesses, have no telephone lines, or the phone lines they have are not working due to the old technology and obsolete equipment. Some of these phone lines cannot connect to the outside world because of the old and ineffective federal telecommunications system.

  Mobile or cell-phone service has yet to become available in many parts of our state. The infrastructure for broadband Internet technology has not been expanded to our state.

• Second, electrical power is still a problem. This problem is being addressed, and Governor Fayose has put the problem at the top of his agenda. This governor knows that stable and sustainable electrical power is key to viable industrial development.

• Third, our roadways and railroad systems are issues of immediate concern. Our highway system is not at the level we want it to be, and a lot of improvement is needed to modernize it. It's an immediate concern because a good network of roads is essential to commerce, for the movement of goods and services. Furthermore, we do not have one single railroad track in our state. A good railroad system could serve the needs of our economy and of inter-state commerce - although, realistically, such a giant project may be a secondary need of our state right now. And, of course, construction of new rail lines must be a federal government project.

• Fourth, our drinking-water systems and wastewater treatment plants are inadequate. The governor knows that improvement is needed. He understands the problem and is working hard to be sure that every home in our state is supplied with good drinking water.

• Fifth, the agricultural sector, and farming in particular, are tied in with the infrastructure problems I've mentioned.

• Sixth, education and industrial training are key requirements for state-of-the-art technology and research. Our state currently lacks these essential elements.

My fellow Ekiti indigenes, these problems and their potential impacts can impede our development and stall the creation of an industrial base and new opportunities for our children.

The message each of us must take home today, and the questions we must answer, are: What can I do to help in the industrial development of our beloved state? What can you and I do to put poor kids to work and give them opportunities in life? How do we attract industries and foreign investors to do business in an environment so rich in human and natural resources?

This is the biggest challenge ahead of us in our state, and it's a challenge not only for the newly elected governor, but also for every Ekiti citizen wherever he or she resides on our planet.

Because of the size, location, human capital and our God-given natural resources and talents, we the people of Ekiti state have a task ahead that is doable and achievable. Indeed, if we all cooperate, we can jointly transform our state into the new southwest industrial base of our country. For our beloved country to be successful and have its place in the history of modern and fully developed nations, our state, your EKAINA organization, and every one of us in North America and around the world have major roles to play. Each of us is very, very relevant.

What are the immediate issues to be tackled to create an environment for the new southwest industrial frontier?

My personal view about the development of an Ekiti industrial base and the Nigeria New Frontier is that, first and foremost, we must get our telecommunications system and other infrastructures in place.

Good telecommunication is the pathway to modern industrial development, and no foreign or local investor will invest in a state or country where there is a poor telecommunications system.

Let's look at it this way. Can you imagine that Siemens of Germany or General Motors of the USA would want to site a plant at Ado-Ekiti, Ikole-Ekit or Ode-Ekiti if the chairman of the company cannot even place a call to local officials to find out how they feel about siting an assembly plant in their area?

If General Motors wanted to invest about $5 billion to site an automobile plant in any of these towns and it took the company chairman a week just to get through to the governor or someone else in the state, you can bet GM would take its business elsewhere. If he got through and asked to speak to the governor, an incompetent receptionist might cut him off while trying to transfer the call. And if he tried again and the line was busy, or the connection was lost because of a power outage, I think he might prefer to make the investment in Lesotho or South Africa, where conditions are more conducive to foreign investment.

Who loses in this scenario? Our state and our children. This is how important it is to have a good telecommunications system. To attract foreign investors to operate in our state, the important infrastructures must be up and running. And that means we must invest in infrastructure.

We must have tough regulations in place, and our elected legislators must do their part. The lawmakers in the State Assembly have an obligation to pass laws, to be implemented immediately, to attract business and investment to the state. Such laws may include, but are not limited to, tax breaks and incentives, tough laws to protect foreign investors, a small-business loan program, and laws against government waste and abuse.

If you win a government contract, you should not be able to walk away from it and not complete the work without risking government prosecution. We need laws that would allow the state to have oversight of all major federal, state and local contracts in our state. We also need tough laws to protect citizens and property, and good community-based policing to make our state safe and friendly to do business in.

There are many things this state can do to attract business and investment. Business collaboration with other states in our country, and unwavering support of our President, must be tenets of all such efforts for our beloved state.

How do we go about achieving our industrial development in the Nigeria New Frontier?

There are many ways we can approach this process. We are a state with virtually no private or foreign production investment. One strategy is to start gradually with agribusiness. I call this approach "phase one" of industrial development.

Phase I: Agribusiness Development

Phase I, agribusiness development, requires little capital to establish. It needs to be targeted to the local people and local investors. It must start with the growing of rice, wheat and yams, and the establishment of rice mills in places like Igbemo, Iworoko and other towns.

Why rice? Because rice is a staple food in Africa, and if we mechanize this process through a government agricultural cooperative body, Ekiti State is capable of exporting this commodity to neighboring states, and to the West African peninsular countries known as the ECOWAS States.

Planting and growing of fruits such as grapes, oranges, guava, apples and mangoes could go along with the establishment of juice and citrus plants in places like Ilawe, Emure, Ifaki, or anywhere they are needed. Cocoa plantations must be improved to put Ekiti back on the map. The Ado Textile Mill must be brought on line very soon, along with new textile industries that could spring up in the near future. Plants to manufacture animal feeds are also part of the agribusiness that is needed.

Phase I industrial development is essential, and involves inexpensive tasks that will create jobs for our children. Many of the phase I industries I have mentioned can be established for less than $5 million per plant. Some of them would take less than nine months to build and could create jobs for our young people. These plants don't have to be established or created by the state government, but by you and me with the support of the state, local governments and local banks such as Owena and Omega banks.

Phase II: Mid-Level Technological Industrial Development

Our state should explore its talents, which everyone in Nigeria knows we have. We need to use our research and education base to attract manufacturing plants to produce medical equipment and pharmaceuticals, and research centers for pharmaceuticals and biotechnology.

Phase III: High-Tech Industrial Development

This is where the rubber meets the road. Here, we are talking of establishing high-tech industries through collaboration and partial funding by the federal government, the state, and foreign and local stakeholders. For instance, planning for the oil refineries that our state and our country need so badly can be initiated immediately. We can have our own state-run oil refinery in collaboration with federal and local governments as well as foreign investors. Nigeria has a reservoir of crude oil close to our state borderline, in Okitipupa in Ondo State. It would cost a minimum of $5 billion to bring a refinery on line to produce 450,000 barrels a day, and it would take four to five years to build. Many of us work in this industry and we know how these things are done.

There is a national need for more refineries, and the problem is very real. The shortage of refineries is the cause of the high cost of refined petroleum products in Nigeria, which led to the recent strike in our country over rising fuel prices.

Locating a refinery in our state would be a strategic benefit to the entire nation. The state can make a coherent argument to the federal government about the need to locate such a project in our state, because the state has no quantifiable, established federal projects or offices.

A medium-sized oil refinery could create 5,000 good jobs, and many secondary businesses would also spring up as a result of this initiative. Such a refinery would operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, for 30 to 40 years.

Now that we know about this need, what should your organization do about it? You and I, and any organization interested in Ekiti State, should ask our current President to lead a collaborative effort to locate a refinery in our newly created state.

Bitumen from our neighboring state offers the potential for another industrial processing base and a pathway to job creation. Ekiti could establish a bitumen plant to process asphalt for road construction, and this could be achieved by entering into a joint venture with our neighboring state. Plastic and rubber companies would spring up to take advantage of the proposed oil refinery plant residue.

The task ahead of us is job creation, and we need to use our talents to move the country forward. Therefore, one of your tasks is to communicate this idea and vision to our President. Send faxes and e-mail messages, and work with him on these key issues. The companies that build oil refineries - Shell, Mobil, Conoco and ChevronTexaco - are operating and have been operating in Nigeria for decades. They are the same companies that build oil refineries, and they know the energy needs of Nigeria. The building of refineries should be an extension of these giant oil companies' downstream contracts and operations in Nigeria.

Ladies and gentlemen, the future of our state is in the hands of all of us. Your corporation, support, talent, time and sacrifice are needed to make your homeland state a model for Nigeria as well as an industrial powerhouse of the new southwest and the Nigeria New Frontier. We have to work together, give out time and energy to this course.

As you continue deliberating on how to make your country and homeland state a better place, we ask you to respect the rule of law in your adopted North American countries, to work hard, and to remember those you left back home who do not have the same opportunities you have.

Therefore, let me close by the words of one our own greatest Ekiti sons, Chief Gilbert Akinyemi Akinyede (GBA) who just passed on recently in London. "GBA Akinyede" is a native of Ode-Ekiti. In one of his several commentaries on public issues. The late Akinyede wrote about himself as follows: "I am an Ekiti. What is instructive is that I come from Ode-Ekiti. If there is anything people say about me, it is that I am too frank, too honest, and too straight for their liking" We have to work together, give your time and energy for this course. Ekiti State needs your support and I wish you god speed in your deliberation.

Thank you very much for the opportunity to be with you, and God bless you all!