…says is most attractive investment destination in South-West
By Precious Oham
A former governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi said his administration successfully increased the Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, of the state during his 8-year tenure.
The former governor stated this in a lecture delivered at the Founders’ Day Lecture of the Western Delta University, Oghara in Delta State with the theme “Sub National Governance in Nigeria: The Ekiti Example.”
According to the former governor, the state was generating a paltry N109 million from the IGR when he came into office in 2010 and was able to hit an average N1 billion per month at the end of his second tenure.
He went further to say that the 2022 Ease of Doing Business ranked Ekiti State 14th place nationally and the most attractive investment destination in the South-West region.
Fayemi, who identified funding as one of the major challenge that every elected governor encounters, said his administration upon resumption of office had to intensify engagements with development partners to accomplish his campaign promises.
“Also, by 2014, we had successfully increased the IGR to N600m from the paltry N109m when we came into office in 2010. By the end of my second tenure in office in 2022, our IGR had hit an average of N1 billion per month.
“In the 2022 Ease of Doing Business ranking, the State had climbed up the ladder to the 14th place nationally and as the most attractive investment destination in the South West in terms of investment climate and enabling environment.
“In the end, one can argue that we didn’t completely eradicate poverty in the State, and no one could in the period of two terms in office; independently verifiable evidence however points to a state that has significantly reduced multidimensional poverty. By the time we were leaving, Ekiti ranked fifth out of 36 least affected states by multi-dimensional poverty in the NBS study on multidimensional poverty.
“Our strides in the field of education has been acknowledged as the state with the highest enrolment and lowest out-of-school children by UNICEF and UNDP. Not to mention the health indicators which continue to reflect effective and focused management of resources in the health sector.”