Ekiti In Diaspora Unveils New Developmental Strategies for Ekiti State

At the opening of the forum, Mr. Julius Akinyemi, the president and Resident Entrepreneur at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US, discussed the importance of joint collaboration of Ekiti of all parties and implored them to imbibe the spirit of listening to one another to foster good relationship and life changing results for all Ekiti citizens.

Declaring the event open, the State governor, Engr. Segun Oni fondly welcome members of Ekiti in Diaspora to Ekiti and shows his appreciation for the contribution the organization is making towards the development of Ekiti state. He said his government will continue to provide the right enabling environment that will help accelerate the socio-economic development of the state.

Mr. Femi Ekundayo, Managing Consultant, Resort Consult Nigeria Limited, the guest speaker at the forum, encouraged participant at the forum to use politics as tools for development, and that people in government must initiate and respond to people’s wishes.

Mr. Anthony Ayodele, the secretary of Ekiti in Diaspora, a senior IT consultant with IBM (International Business Machine) USA, launched the “footsteps to a better tomorrow” project; the project will provide for primary pupils in the state, a pair of school sandals and a core text book. Speaking further during his presentation on Technology solutions as tools and enablers of socio-economic development, Mr. Ayodele, explained how Ekiti in Diaspora can partner with the government in the area of technology to increase efficiency in service delivery to the people of the state. Mr. Ayodele proposed a center of innovation for the state, where technology will become a tool in the acceleration of socio-economic development of the state. And this will enable the people to have access to services without the usual red tapes.

Speaking at the forum, Mrs. Adeyemo, the Vice President, a financial accountant with Bayer Pharmaceutical USA, during her presentation on ethics, stated that for us to move forward as a state, we must shun politics of bitterness and embrace peace. And that the time is now for Ekiti to reclaim its reputation and good name as the Nigeria center of intelligence.

Participant at the forum requested that Ekiti in Diaspora must ensure that all the presentations paper and ideas must translate to reality by way of implementation. In his response, Mr. Ayodele said the goal of the organization is to empower the Ekiti people and to work with the government on the socio-economic development of the state.

Conclusively, the Diaspora President described the inauguration forum as the “beginning of a never ending journey” of socio-economic progress in Ekiti and that the event marks the beginning of a yearly event to be carried on by generations to come.