Goodwill messages for the new year continue to pour in from state and non-state actors across the country.
In a new year broadcast, Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Biodun Oyebanji spoke profusely about the achievements of his administration in the just gone year, while Nigeria’s former High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Ambassador Sarafa Tunji Isola charged his fellow citizens to let 2026 be a turning point.
In a 26-paragraph address, Oyebnji listed the road projects completed by his administration to include the Ikole-Ara-Isinbode, Ikere-Ilawe, Ikere-Igbara-Odo, Ado-Iworoko-Ifaki, the first phase of the Ring Road, Igbara Odo-Ikogosi, Itapa-Omu-Ijelu, Ikere-Ise, Itawure-Okemesi, Ajabandele-Deeper-Life-Alasia-Omisanjana, Bovas-Spotless Hotel, Ado-Ekiti, Maryland Avenue, GRA, III Extension dualisation (Phase II), and many others.
He also spoke about the completion of the Ekiti Agro-Allied International Cargo Airport and the commencement of commercial flights on 10 December. ‘With the airport now operating, our state is open to more economic growth through investment opportunity, tourism development and export potential’, the governor said.
On electricity, the governor said that his government connected more communities to electricity through the provision of transformers and the rehabilitation of existing facilities at Itamo, Idi Agba, Maryland Avenue, GRA 3rd Extension and Ibukunoluwa/Asungbowoola areas.
He added that his administration completed the extension of electricty from Eruku Kwara State to the Agric Processing Zone at Iyemero axis, and has also completed the connection of Okemesi and environs to the 33KV network from Ijebu-Jesa.
‘We are currently working in conjunction with Sustainable Power and Irrigation in Nigeria in constructing 2 x 60 MVA transmission stations in Ikere-Ekiti, Ijesa-Isu and Ilupeju-Ekiti respectively. We have also paid compensation to affected persons on the Right of Ways to ensure timely delivery of the project’, he further said.
Oyebanji said that education sector would continue to receive priority attention in qualitative and quantitative terms. He explained that the recent employment of about 2,000 teachers in the public secondary schools across the state underscores the administration’s commitment to the provision of quality education.
He further said: ‘We will continue the ongoing total rehabilitation of schools, increase school and instructional material supply as well as enhance teachers’ capacity through continuous training, re-training and enhanced welfare.
‘I am glad to inform you that our vision for the actualization of Ekiti Knowledge Zone is already on track as infrastructural development has commenced. It is our hope that by this time next year, work would have reached an appreciable level in the first phase. The Special Agric Processing Zone would also take off very soon’.
He said that, about two weeks ago, he distributed N1.4billion as profit for 2025 to the participating youths in the Bring-Back-the Youths-in Agriculture project. ‘This is a significant micro-economic policy success for us as a state. It would be recalled that Ekiti had always been very notorious for having the highest food price inflation in the Southwest, a very uncomfortable paradox that we have been able to reverse with this programme’, the governor also said.
In this new year, Oyebanji said that work would be accelerated on the second overhead bridge in Ado Ekiti, the state capital. ‘The the first phase of the Ring Road project has been completed and commissioned. It is our hope that the second phase will commence soon’, he said.
For Isola, a new year is not just a change of calendar. He said: ‘The year 2026 must therefore be a turning point-a year when leadership is guided by conscience, competence and compassion; a year when governance truly reflects the aspirations of the people; a year when citizenship is defined not only by rights but by responsibility’.
While extending his greetings to all Nigerians at home and in the Diaspora, and all friends of the country across the world, the former envoy said that the new year ‘invites us to look back with honesty, forward with hope, and inward with responsibility’.
He also touched on the joint responsibilities of the political leadership and the citizenry in nurturing democracy. ‘Our democracy can only endure when it delivers tangible hope — security for our communities, opportunities for our elders and justice for all. Political leadership must listen more and serve better. At the same time, citizens must remain engaged, peaceful, vigilant and constructive in holding leadership accountable’, he said.
Isola stressed that ‘as a nation richly blessed with cultural diversity, natural resources and human capital, Nigeria’s greatest strength lies in unity of purpose.
‘Our differences — ethnic, religious, political — should never be instruments of division, put pillars of balance and mutual respect’.
