The former Governor of Ekiti State, Dr Kayode Fayemi has been named as the Yoruba Man of the Year 2022. The announcement was made by Irohinoodua Publishers Ltd, the first Pan Yoruba online media established in 2010.
In a statement signed by the Executive Editor of the group, Mr Taiwo Adeleye, the former Ekiti State Governor won the Yoruba Man of the Year Award 2022 based on three considerations: Development of Education, Security/Regional Integration of the South West and Promotion of Human Rights Ideal.
Last year, Fayemi was also The group said Fayemi has age on his side adding that with his global network and credibility, he is a potential global leader. Irohinoodua said it was significant that Fayemi was September last year elected as the President of Forum of Regions in African in the city of Saidia in Morocco under the auspices of His Majesty. King Mohammed VI.
Irohinoodua said Dr Fayemi today remains the pioneer of the Laptop for A Child programme which he introduced to Ekiti as far back as 2010. The media group said the result is a distinguished performance in Education in Ekiti an effort that reclaimed the floundering momentum of a knowledge driven state. Under Fayemi, Ekiti was rated as Number 5 according to the Multinational Poverty Index (MPI) report released by the National Bureau of Statistics, (NBS) which shows that Ekiti stands above its potentials.
It noted that other states were to follow the remarkable examples in later years. Irohinoodua said Dr Fayemi takes the credit for the creation of Amotekun.
‘We recall that as far back 2010, he drew up a comprehensive strategy in response to the crisis in the Maghreb region with a futuristic plan to ensure the South West was saved from the spill over. The creativity of his ideas was not to be fully reckoned until in later years when Nigeria and the South West began to witness terrorist invasion. He had employed 800 members of the Peace Corps backed with an Act of State Parliament which full potential was momentarily halted due to the change of Government in Ekiti in 2014.’
The group said ‘As soon as he came back to power in 2018, Dr Fayemi reenacted the project which gave birth to Amotekun adopted by at least five of the six state governors realizing that peace in the South West is imperative for a stable and prosperous country.’
Irohinoodua said Dr Fayemi remains the most consistent supporter of Regional Integration of the South West. He demonstrated this all throughout his eight-year tenure. Having hosted the first South West Regional Integration meeting in Ado-Ekiti, he provided unflinching support for the South West Development Agenda through several initiatives including but not limited to being the first to appoint the Commissioner for Regional Integration and now the building of the Cargo Airport which he left as an enduring legacy in Ekiti State to the benefit of the entire South West States apart from its strategic importance to Kwara, Kogi, Edo and the South South and the Middle Belt.
Irohinoodua said it should be observed that in the face of very learn resources, Dr Fayemi was able to establish the first State owned Cargo Airport in the entire South West. Irohinoodua said Ekiti has emerged as the most right sensitive state in Nigeria evident in the domestication of the Freedom of Information Law, Ekiti being the first to carry out the initiative and the new laws against gender violence which has brought Ekiti into the arena of international discourse. Irohinoodua said the Ekiti human rights initiative was further boosted by the courage of Ekiti State Ministry of Justice to take many initiatives in defense of human rights including challenging the state police where necessary. All these achievements are remarkable considering the fact that Ekiti is on the lowest ladder of the Federal allocation and remains the least industrialized in the South West.
Irohinoodua also listed former Premier of the Western Region, Chief Obafemi Awolowo as the Greatest Thinker of the last Century while the Ransome Kuti Family was announced as the greatest of the Yoruba families in the past century.
Irohinoodua said Awolowo wrote books that addressed past, present and future problems of Nigeria and Yorubaland adding that his political ideas makes him to be relevant at all times. It said that the Ransome Kuti family have done the Yoruba proud locally and internationally beginning from its first known generation led by the iconic Josiah Ransome Kuti, a clergyman, an educationist, a human rights activist, a composer, through his son, Josiah Kuti and the children and grandchildren who over the years have sustained a libertarian tradition motivated by creativity, resistance against injustice, service to humanity and the empowerment of millions of people through the provision of knowledge and music. Past recipients of the Yoruba Man of the Year were Prof Wole Soyinka, Prof Banji Akintoye and Prof Adeniran, a United States based heart surgeon.
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