As expected, emotions ran high as the Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, met with the principals of secondary schools in Ado-Ekiti on Friday and criticised former Governor Kayode Fayemi.
According to Punch newspaper, the governor reportedly wept after prostrating for the teachers for not abandoning him since he was impeached in 2006 during his first term.
Fayose, who reportedly rolled on the floor of the Abiodun Adetiloye Hall venue of the meeting to thank the teachers for their unwavering loyalty to him, said their support contributed to his return to office eight years after his inglorious exit.
He recalled how his government was able to raise Ekiti to the sixth and seventh positions of the national ranking on education in 2005 and 2006 through the cooperation with the teachers with a promise to reenact the feat in his second coming, to rescue the education sector from collapse.
The governor assured the teachers that the two months salaries and other benefits owed them by the administration of the immediate past governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, would be paid soon. He also promised other benefits that would motivate them to deliver maximally to uplift the education sector.
“I knew how I was able to partner with you to bring Ekiti from 35th to sixth position. I will still do same now. Before any payment to the political appointees, you will be the first to be considered. During my first term, I met a deplorable education sector, but with your support, I overcame.
“But it was so bad and disheartening that rather than for ex-Governor Fayemi to face human capital development, he believed in building a N3.3 billion government lodge for his own comfort at the expense of you workers.
“Do you know that some courses needed just a N800m to get accredited at the Ekiti State University? Fayemi’s government refused to make the fund available and the National Universities Commission nearly deaccredited them, all he was pursuing was his self comfort,” Fayose lamented.
He promised to make the office of the Tutor-General he established during his first term to be at par with the position of Permanent Secretary of the State Civil Service.
“For you not to have forgotten or abandoned me after eight years of my exit shows how good and reliable you are. It also confirmed that I had done well for you. “I promised that I will do more this time. I will reposition the education sector and make it a pride of all because that is the only thriving industry we have in Ekiti. All what you have lost and the humiliation you have suffered shall be redeemed during this government because I hold you in high esteem,” he said.
Credit: Punch