The immediate past Oyo State Head of Service, Adesoji Eniade, yesterday officially joined the gubernatorial race.
Eniade, whose father is a leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the state made this known yesterday when he visited the Oke-Ado, Ibadan state secretariat of the party.
According to the technocrat, who was appointed executive assistant (administration) to Governor Abiola Ajimobi immediately after his tenure, he joined the civil service at a tender age because of his love for good governance.
He maintained that one of the key drivers of socioeconomic development of any society was policy consistency.
READ FULL SPEECH BELOW:
FULL TEXT OF ADESOJI ENIADE’S OFFICIAL DECLARATION SPEECH AT THE APC STATE PARTY SECRETARIAT, OKE-ADO, IBADAN | JUNE 13TH, 2018
TITLE: WE HAVE TO KEEP MOVING FORWARD
With much joy, I greet the entire members of the Executive Council of our great party, All Progressives Party (APC), ably and gracefully led by our Baba, a man of integrity, Chief Akin Oke.
My greetings also to our party leaders and elders here present and across the state.
Likewise, I greet all Local Government Party Chairmen present as well as all the Executive Chairmen of Local Government and Local Council Development Areas.
To us all, party faithfuls, members of the public, gentlemen of the Press, ladies and gentlemen, I greet you all.
Permit me to seize this opportunity to congratulate us all, especially the party leadership, on the successful conduct of the Ward, LG, and State congresses held recently.
I also congratulate the party on the carpeting victory recorded across the state at the Local Government elections. Ours, is a consistently victorious party.
Today is a historic day in my life, and I deeply appreciate this grand audience you have given me to officially meet with you all today and to share my aspirations as regards my contribution towards the continued development of our party APC and Oyo state.
Growing up on the proud and historic streets of Ibadan was fun. I was but a young boy from E9, Oke-Adu, Agodi and, just like every enterprising little boy and girl back then, I also had lofty dreams.
One of such dreams of mine was to see Oyo state become even greater than it was then, and I was determined to contribute my might to make the progress happen.
This vision largely informed my decision to join the Oyo state Civil Service at the relatively tender age of 23 – TO SERVE.
35 meritorious years of service later, I have learnt that this dream of mine, just like the dream of every other well-meaning Oyo state citizen, still holds true.
Dear elders of our great party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo state, I come here today to officially express my ambition to make this humble dream (alongside that of many young boy and girl out there today), come true.
Just as my decision to serve my State at a young age, my foray into politics at this time is also not accidental… I YEARN TO SERVE.
“Only those who STEP OUT, run and rule the world”.
This quote by the 1st female Australian Prime Minister, Julian Gillard, stirred me to join politics and bring to reality, my burning desire to be a source of renewed hope for every citizen of Oyo State. Such that whether old or young; male or female, students, civil servant or private sector worker, Yoruba or Ibo community, Hausa community or Lebano-Syrian community, all may be renewed in hope and strength that, ours is the State that SETS THE PACE.
After garnering wholesome experience in governance in my 35 years of public service, I am determined to join the league of the best and brilliant minds who are bold enough to step out, come together, and partake in the drive to keep our state on a forward track.
I am determined to join a league of sincere leaders who lead by service.
I have served our State in different capacities for many years till now. A rare privilege that has afforded me to make a thorough assessment of who we are, where we are headed, and what we need to get there.
Fellow pace setters, what we have to do to get to the desired destination is to keep moving FORWARD!
Unarguably, considering the substantial level of socio-economic progress we’ve experienced in our State in the past 7 – 8 years under the able leadership of Governor Abiola Ajimobi, every well-meaning citizen of Oyo state will agree with me that, there’s no other direction we are destined to go other than forward.
This is why the major thrust and driving purpose behind my gubernatorial ambition is to ensure that our state keeps moving FORWARD.
One of the key drivers that propels any nation’s economy world over is POLICY CONSISTENCY from one government to another.
While policy formulation remains one of the most critical aspects of governance, Policy consistency is the major bedrock and lifeline for sustainable advancement that allows for uninterrupted human capital development, socioeconomic development and infrastructural growth.
As such, I believe strongly that to move our State forward, we have to adopt a SWIFT approach. This coined acronym will serve as the guiding components to drive our State forward.
SWIFT here, connotes the following:
1. Socioeconomic development: The bedrock and umbrella agenda from where we’ll consolidate and achieve progressive wins in key areas which include – Health, Urban Development, The Civil Service, Rural Evolvement, Security, Education, Economy and People Welfare.
2. Women and Girl-child empowerment: Any society that dedicatedly empowers its female population to become active stakeholders in the grand scheme of things, will neither fail nor flail. Not only that, it is high time our nation did more to protect our women and children from various forms of abuses. Girl-child education and women protection is important for any society to develop appropriately.
3. Industrialization through infrastructural development: The next big step towards maximizing our strengths and opportunities for the actual benefit of us all. This is where our government will explore and enable strategic options and partnerships to make the Oyo State economy largely private-sector driven, in consolidation with the vibrant Civil-Service Oyo State is noted for. A strong synergy between both sectors where the Civil Service provides efficient service delivery that creates a virile environment for private sector to thrive will surely propel our economy to greater heights. Thankfully, a solid foundation has been laid for this.
4. Future generation: John F. Kennedy once said, that, “children are the world’s most valuable resource and its best hope for the future”. Our Children and the Youth are the prime stakeholders and beneficiaries of our efforts. They form the largest demography in our population; extremely rich in human capital. It is a primary goal to keep empowering our children with relevant education and creative skills that will make them fit and functional for a deserving future. There will be rigorous investment in developing their human capital for optimum productivity.
5. Technology and Creative industry development: This is an economic goldmine ready and ripened to be explored. We must guide, support, encourage our people, especially the youth, to embrace, explore and express their abilities and ideas here.
At this juncture, I will make a promise to you… We will do this together! We have to do this together!
As a strong believer in the idea of collective participation, my ambition is to lead a government of dignified inclusion of all stakeholders, (i.e, the young, the old, the government and the governed). The days when the people are lied to is over. The people have awoken to a new dawn. The dawn where they, the people, demand accountability of the elected. The dawn where the people demand equity; where the people demand justice; where the people say No to financial abuse; the dawn where the people want leaders who truly feel their pain.
I have awoken to that dawn. I am one of you. But, I cannot do it alone. Together, we are stronger. Together, we can break the glass-ceiling. Together, we shall move forward.
Mi o le daa se…
ENI TI YIN DE!
I am one of you; a born progressive, a technocrat, a practicing democrat who fully understands the workings of the party in the grand scheme of governance, and yes, I repeat, we will do this together.
My dear elders, my indefatigable party leaders, and the good people of Oyo state, without doubt, we have to keep moving forward in order to maintain a pride of place in the comity of states in Nigeria.
Thus, what I promise this day, is the competence, readiness, and most importantly, a strong and experienced leadership to make this happen successfully, for the benefit of the people and the pride of our party.
I, Adesoji Eniade, therefore humbly seek your utmost support and declare my ambition to run for the Office of Governor of Oyo State and be our party’s flag-bearer in the upcoming 2019 gubernatorial election.
Iwájú Iwájú l’òpá èbìtì ńré sí;
Iwájú Iwájú ni a maa lo ni ipinle Oyo o!
God bless you all
God bless Oyo state
and may God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Thank you.
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