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FAYEMI GOVERNMENT CLUELESS ON EKITI INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT.
Labour Party Governorship Candidate, Hon Opeyemi Bamidele, has accused Governor Kayode Fayemi-led administration of paying lip service to industrial development in Ekiti State.
Bamidele, said Fayemi’s boast on the day of his inauguration on October 16, 2010 that he would diversify the State from its present monolithic economy through industrialization , being a civil service State still remain a mirage , adding that the laxity in this critical and pivotal sector has crippled the State’s economy.
In a statement in Ado Ekiti by his Media Aide, Ahmed Salami, Bamidele queried that what has been the contributions of the moribund Ire Brick Industry and Road Material Company(ROMACO) in Igbemo to the development of the economy of the State in spite of over N2 billion that had been expended to resuscitate the industries.
He lambasted Fayemi led administration for its inept and poor administrative skills leading to its failure to negotiate the revamp of the defunct Oodua Textile Mills in Ado Ekiti with Oodua Group of Companies , saying the conversion of the site into a lock-up-shops further underscores Fayemi’s deception and aversion for the growth of this sector.
The Federal Lawmaker stressed the need to place high premium on industrial development in a state like Ekiti, saying the Fayemi’s government would not have plunged Ekiti into this level of burdensome debt , if it has made remarkable feat in this sector.
Bamidele, said industrial development is number 6 on the Fayemi’s 8-point agenda, urging him to explain to Ekiti how far he has gone in the development of agro-allied industries, exploitation of mineral deposits in the State and other allied matters capable of driving the economy .
Governor Fayemi claimed that he has jumpstarted the economy by creating technology and industrial parks for small and medium scale
enterprises , established micro-credit facilities for promising entrepreneurs and that his government has placed special focus on the development of agro-allied and solid mineral sectors.
We want Fayemi to tell us where he has built his industrial parks. We want him to tell us the rate of turnover of Ire Burnt Brick Industry.
What Fayemi has kept on saying was that the Industry has bounced back to life but practically with no production because not even a single
block has come out of that industry since the advent of the present administration.
Again, the essence of industrial development is to create wealth via employment of the teeming youth. We challenge Fayemi to tell us how many youths have been employed by this industry despite his much touted boast that the industry has been made functional.
Bamidele expressed regret over Fayemi’s laissez faire attitude to enter into bipartite understanding with the Federal Ministry of Solid Minerals for prompt commencement of exploitation of mineral deposits in ijero axis of the State close to four years of his administration.
It sounds so unfathomable that a government which believes in industrial development could allow illegal mining to begin to fester in Ijero Ekiti. As I speak to you now, thousands of illegal miners are in the town feeding fat on what could have been a strong and reliable heritage for the future generations.
