A SPEECH DELIVERED BY THE GOVERNOR OF EKITI STATE DR. KAYODE FAYEMI AT THE FLAG-OFF OF OPERATION RENOVATE ALL SCHOOLS IN EKITI (ORASE) HELD ON THURSDAY 26TH JULY, 2012 AT COMPREHENSIVE HIGH SCHOOL, AAYE EKITI, CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE, ILAWE EKITI AND OLAOLUWA MUSLIM COLLEGE, ADO-EKITI

1. A SPEECH DELIVERED BY THE GOVERNOR OF EKITI STATE
DR. KAYODE FAYEMI AT THE FLAG-OFF OF OPERATION RENOVATE
ALL SCHOOLS IN EKITI (ORASE) HELD ON THURSDAY 26TH JULY,
2012 AT COMPREHENSIVE HIGH SCHOOL, AAYE EKITI, CORPUS
CHRISTI COLLEGE, ILAWE EKITI AND OLAOLUWA MUSLIM
COLLEGE, ADO-EKITI
PROTOCOLS,
It gladdens my heart to address you today as we flag-off the
Operation Renovate All Schools in Ekiti (ORASE) under which all the 183
Secondary Schools in the State would witness a significant facelift. This
unprecedented whole scale renovation has a budget of N2.5 billion to
accomplish the task. The first phase of the operation would span a period
of seven weeks of the long vacation covering 100 secondary schools at a
cost of N1.9 billion naira. The schools where the first phase renovation
covers have been carefully selected with an average of 30 secondary
schools per Education District.
In addition to this large scale renovation, a sum of N550m has been
approved to procure decent student desks and chairs out of which not less
than 40,000 units of the furniture would be produced within the seven
weeks vacation period. The package also includes furniture items for

2. teachers valued at N50m to ensure that a more conducive environment for
education delivery in created.
I like to reiterate here that our resolve to reposition Education is a well
thought out plan. Therefore the prominent place Education occupies in our
8 point Agenda is a testimony to our commitment to the future of our
children. This intervention therefore is to ensure that we have functional
education that equips our children with learning, enlightenment and
enterprise to face the challenges of life more squarely. As can be seen, this
is fundamental to our survival, our development and our future as a
people.
It is an incontestable fact that Ekiti State is a pace setter in education, a
feat that is evident in the vast number of brilliant and eminent personnel
produced by the State in the academia and all fields of human endeavour.
We cannot afford to live on past glory as we cannot afford to allow our
education system to continue to produce half baked products neither good
for higher education nor for job creation and wealth generation which are
our focus.

3. Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, as you are all aware, Education is
already free up to the Senior Secondary School level in the State.
Sustaining that takes hundreds of millions of naira to pay salaries and
allowances of teachers and other education practitioners regularly apart
from giving incentives such as car and housing loans to these categories of
workers. Promotion of teachers and every other worker in the public
service is ongoing with the intent of ensuring that the promotions due in
2011 and 2012 are implemented before the end of the year. Government
has continued to pay the West African Examination Council (WAEC)
Examination fees of all students in public schools, provide science
equipment and pay running grants to schools each term. Dictionaries and
core subject text books are already being procured for distribution to
schools at the commencement of the 2012/2013 academic session.
It is now a celebrated fact that our determination to ensure that laptops
are placed on the desk of each student in all public secondary schools is
paying off handsomely as our students are getting familiar with ICT
technicalities. By the time we take delivery of the remaining laptops

4. ordered for, 33,000 students would have benefited in this project this year
alone while 18,000 teachers would have owned their own laptops as
encouraged by my government.
Special initiative for the physically challenged learners in our special
schools in also receiving due attention as Braille Computers and other
instructional materials worth N15m were recently commissioned for this
category of learners. Schools bags numbering 100,000 were also
commissioned and distributed to every secondary schools student in our
schools. Of greater interest however is the fact that each of the school
bags distributed contained a personal letter from Mr. Governor to every
student concerned to encourage and inspire them towards hardwork and
excellence in their academic and life pursuits.
This administration has always encouraged the exposure of our students
and youth at large to varying academic and extra-academic talents
development endeavours and in this wise, sports equipment worth over
N7.5m have been purchased for distribution to schools. Meanwhile, a full-

5. fledged Sports Academy would soon be established. The same applies to
the establishment of an Institute of Science and Technology.
Our resolve to ensure that this impactation of functional educational is
done under a conducive atmosphere informed the Operation Renovation All
Schools in Ekiti (ORASE) being flagged off today. Even though the first
phase of this operation involving 100 secondary schools is expected to be
done within only seven weeks, we have in the rebuilding of the burnt
hostel of Government Science College, Ayede-Ekiti which was rebuilt,
equipped with beds, and commissioned within few weeks.
It must however be stressed that it will take the cooperation of you all as a
stakeholders for this Operation to succeed. You are therefore enjoined to
play your roles particularly by close monitoring the progress of work and
giving appropriate feedback to the concerned agents of government. I like
to warn that nobody should constitute a hindrance to this project. As
school administrators, parents, well wishers and communities, we must
learn to imbibe a good maintenance culture so that the renovated
structures would be stand the test of time.

6. I wish to thank all persons, communities and organizations who have been
contributing in one way of the other to the development of Education in
Ekiti State. I acknowledge donations of books, computer sets and other
instructional materials to some schools by some individuals, communities
and corporate bodies for which we remain grateful. Let me also say that
despite the billions of naira which the government has committed to
education now, we are still not under any illusion that government can
singlehandedly shoulder the burdens of providing for education
development. The efforts of the government in this regard should be
corroborated.
It is now a joy fm one to flag -off the Operation Renovate All Schools in
Ekiti to the glory of God and educational excellence in Ekiti State, the Land
of Honour.
Thank you and God bless.