A development and civil society group, Integrity Leadership Organisation (ILO), has praised Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State for what it described as his “proactiveness” in tackling the spread of the coronavirus pandemic in the state.
ILO explained that the governor’s initiative made it possible for the state to be one of the safest from the spread of the pandemic.
A statement by the group’s Southwest Coordinator, Lekan Oyediran, listed Fayemi’s “proactive leadership, foresight, team work, vision and time management” as the “magic” that worked together to put Ekiti in the “prime place among the states across the federation in the containment of the deadly virus.”
Oyediran explained that such qualities were what the people deserved “at this time of devastating scourge the world had found itself, and not rhetoric that amounted to nothing.”
The group observed that although Ekiti State recorded two indexes of the pandemic, the two had since been treated and discharged to go to their various destinations outside the state.
It stated, “The state’s record on Covid-19 is as a result of preparations on ground by the governor as early as March 2, 2020, long before Ekiti recorded its first COVID-19 index case.
“Gov Fayemi had put a machinery in motion by setting up a 47-member committee, creating an isolation centre and providing some funds in anticipation of its possible incursion.
“He also proactively set up a 47-man COVID-19 Response Resource Mobilisation Committee, chaired by Aare Afe Babalola, with other past governors of the state as patrons, among other eminent Ekiti indigenes, and gave them the mandate to mobilise resources, direct funding campaign for COVID-19 response, as well as identifying and soliciting effective funding channels.”
The group noted that the initiative had yielded positive results in providing palliative measures to cushion the effects of the lockdown brought about by the plague.
Gov Fayemi had also got a national recognition through an earlier rating conducted by an agency known as StearsBusiness.
Ekiti State scored high in the rating, coming second only after Lagos State out of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on the COVID-19 State Response Index.
The rating agency described the index as a “dynamic measure of each state’s aggressiveness in combating the virus.”
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