The governor-elect of Ekiti State, Mr Biodun Oyebanji, has promised to prioritize youth and human capital development plans, saying he will create an independent ministry of youth development when sworn in as the governor of the state.
Speaking in Ado Ekiti, during an interactive session with journalists, Oyebanji expressed the readiness of his government to build youth potentials and the knowledge economy in line with the global and modern trends.
Oyebanji who also said improved security, power supply and building of enduring infrastructure would be top priorities of his government noted that there would synergy with the state’s House of Assembly to tinker with the curriculum and inject Robotics, Coding and Artificial Intelligence as a study.
“I will have to strike a balance between growth and development. Our development plan will be such that it will improve the people’s living standards.
“You may build infrastructure, yet the people will remain poor. We should all know that knowledge and talents’ development create wealth. That was what Chief Obafemi Awolowo did in the old Western Region.”
Oyebanji, who said that though the challenges of leading the state look overwhelming, vowed to leverage on the strong partnerships the state had built with local and international development partners to make required resources available to the state.
The former secretary to the State Government, said focusing on the thematic areas will help to increase investment drives that would create wealth, and ignite human capital development, through job provision and revenue earnings.
He said: “My vision is to have a society where everyone will feel secure and prosper. If the state is not secured, have the right infrastructure, investors won’t come. We know that we can’t control or command the security forces as a state, but we can support them to deliver.’’
