Ekiti is richer than it was five years ago and more promising, with government figures putting growth from ₦2.4 trillion to ₦4.6 trillion and a projection near ₦8.8 trillion. As Governor Biodun Oyebanji begins a second term, the question is no longer whether Ekiti can grow, but whether that growth can be felt in farms, factories, classrooms, and careers, Raheem Akingbolu writes.
Ekiti begins its next political chapter carrying a paradox that deserves a harder look. The state government says its economy has grown from about N2.4 trillion in 2019 to N4.6 trillion in 2023 and is now heading towards a projected N8.8 trillion. Yet the state’s 2023 road statistics tell a more sobering story. Of 425.95 kilometres of state roads, 124.47 kilometres were classified as bad, and another 92.02 kilometres had never been tarred. More than half the network was either failing or unpaved. For a state whose prospects rest on agriculture, trade, education, and tourism, the gap between the headline figures and the road beneath the traveller’s wheels is hard to ignore.
From any angle one chooses to look at it, Governor Abiodun Oyebanji has made an indelible mark in his first term, which, of course, paved the way for this second journey. But in an economy like Ekiti’s, roads carry far more than traffic. They determine how quickly food reaches the market and what a farmer pays to get it there. They influence how easily a patient reaches a hospital, how attractive a town appears to an investor, and how long a visitor is willing to stay. Poor connectivity works like a tax on almost every other sector and is paid daily. The state has invested heavily in road construction, and that matters. The larger task now is to ensure those roads form part of a deliberate economic network.
Such a network must reach beyond individual projects. Ekiti has an opportunity to position itself as a strategic inland connector between the South-West, the North and Abuja while deepening commercial ties with neighbouring states. The Ado-Ijan-Ilumoba-Omuo corridor deserves particular attention because of its link to the Federal Capital Territory and to assets such as the cargo airport, higher institutions and the Knowledge Zone.
Also, the state government should begin the new term with a deliberate action to end the challenge posed by Igede-Aramoko-Itaore road which has almost become a national embarrassment. Indeed, Geography has handed Ekiti an advantage. Infrastructure is what can convert that advantage into economic power.
Once people and goods can move efficiently, another underused asset comes into view. Tourism could become one of Ekiti’s fastest sources of new external revenue. Ikogosi Warm Springs, Arinta Waterfalls, Olosunta and Orole Hills, Efon Hills, Agbonna Hills, Esa Cave and a rich cultural heritage provide the raw material for a distinctive visitor economy.
Yet attractions are only the beginning. The real opportunity lies in connecting them to good roads, quality accommodation, security, entertainment, destination marketing and a professional visitor experience.
That calls for a different understanding of how government and private capital should work together. Government does not need to own every hotel, resort or entertainment venue. Its responsibility is to create conditions in which serious investors can commit resources with confidence.
The Ikogosi concession offers one model. The challenge now is whether similar opportunities can be identified, properly structured, and marketed while ensuring host communities benefit from the economic activity that develops around them.
Tourism, however, can not carry Ekiti’s economic ambition on its own. The state must also become a proposition that investors can understand at a glance. Investment promotion should move from broad invitations to targeted offers built around land, human capital, agriculture, road connectivity, aviation, educational institutions, and access to regional markets. Ekiti should know the industries it wants, the companies that fit them, and the infrastructure that would make investment commercially viable.
This is where industrialisation moves to the centre of the second-term conversation. The governor’s own framing of the next four years points in the same direction. In his State of the State address, Oyebanji argued that social amenities and infrastructure must be connected to economic activity if people are to move sustainably out of poverty. The goal is an industrial ecosystem in which anchor companies generate demand for local suppliers, logistics operators, financial institutions, technology firms, processors and skilled workers, with the opening of factories as only the first step. Serviced industrial land, predictable approvals, reliable utilities, and clear investment information would offer investors something worth more than publicity: a business case they can confidently quantify.
The cargo airport adds another dimension. The number of flights it handles will matter less than whether production, storage, cold-chain facilities, logistics, processing and distribution begin clustering around it.
High-value agricultural produce, time-sensitive goods and industries reliant on efficient movement all stand to benefit. Yet the airport will become a genuine growth engine only if it is tied physically and economically to the wider road and industrial ecosystem.
That brings the discussion back to agriculture, because no industry thrives without a dependable supply base. According to Governor Oyebanji, agriculture and trade account for roughly 60 per cent of the state’s economy, with agriculture contributing about N1.05 trillion.
National labour data also recorded more than 311,000 people employed in agriculture in Ekiti in 2023. Those figures illustrate that farming is far more than a rural livelihood. It is one of the foundations upon which the state’s industrial future can be built. The governor has cited that economic profile as one reason his administration intends to continue prioritising agriculture, trade, investment, aviation and tourism as areas of comparative advantage capable of driving further growth.
The opportunity lies in moving decisively from crop production to value creation. As being currently demonstrated by Agbeyewa Farms, Cassava can support starch, flour and other processing industries. Rice can sustain milling, packaging and distribution. Yam, maize, soya beans, fruits and other crops can feed increasingly sophisticated value chains. The reported agreement between Agbeyewa and the state on large-scale cassava cultivation could prove significant if it evolves beyond planting into a wider network of farmers, processors, financiers, logistics providers and manufacturers. The prize is not merely a larger harvest but a greater share of value retained within Ekiti.
The employment picture sharpens the urgency. Ekiti had about 1.31 million employed people in the 2023 labour force data, yet more than one million were self-employed and roughly 86 per cent of all employment was informal. That describes an active population but also an economy in which too many people remain concentrated in small-scale and vulnerable work. The challenge is therefore to create an environment where businesses can grow, formal jobs can multiply and young people can build sustainable careers without leaving the state.
That question inevitably leads to education. Ekiti has long carried the proud identity of the Fountain of Knowledge, earned through generations of teachers, scholars, professionals and intellectuals. Yet reputation alone is never enough. It must be renewed continuously. The Fountain of Knowledge must be protected, strengthened and deliberately reinvented or risk becoming a monument to past achievements rather than a living source of talent, research, innovation and economic opportunity.
The task is, therefore, to treat education as a complete economic pipeline rather than a collection of schools and examination results. Teacher quality and professional development matter. So do technical and vocational education, science and technology, artificial intelligence, digital skills, research, and entrepreneurship. Universities need stronger links with employers and industry, while school leavers should have credible options across academic, technical, and vocational pathways. For Ekiti, educational success should no longer end at graduation. It should be measured by what graduation makes possible.
The career path of graduates offers a useful test. The published quota of the Council of Legal Education places the law programme at Ekiti State University at 60 students, compared with 150 at the University of Ilorin, 250 at Obafemi Awolowo University and 270 at the University of Lagos. These are university programme quotas, not Nigerian Law School admission figures. Even so, they raise legitimate questions about the state’s capacity to produce legal professionals at scale and, more importantly, about what happens after university. Ekiti should know how many of its law graduates successfully progress into professional legal training and where avoidable bottlenecks exist.
Medicine presents a similar challenge. Newly qualified doctors must complete housemanship before full registration, yet available 2026 listings place the combined housemanship capacity of three major Ekiti institutions at about 93 places. There are 34 at the Federal Teaching Hospital, Ido-Ekiti, 12 at the Federal Medical Centre, Ikole-Ekiti, and 47 at Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital. Comparable figures at UCH Ibadan, LUTH and UBTH are 117, 144 and 122 respectively. For a state that legitimately prides itself on education and produces medical graduates, the question is straightforward: how many can move from graduation to housemanship and then to full professional practice without the education system becoming disconnected from opportunity?
The same principle should guide healthcare more broadly. Ekiti can strengthen its hospitals as centres of teaching, specialist medicine and research, as well as places of treatment. A stronger health ecosystem would create opportunities for medical professionals, diagnostics, pharmaceuticals, medical technology and private investment while reducing the need for residents to seek specialist treatment elsewhere. Over time, the state could emerge as a regional hub for selected areas of medical education and specialist healthcare.
Technology offers another route to expansion, and it does not require Ekiti to imitate Lagos or any other commercial hub. With stronger digital infrastructure, practical technology education, innovation spaces and closer collaboration between universities and industry, young Ekiti residents can participate in national and global markets without leaving home. For a state of Ekiti’s size, the digital economy offers something especially valuable: employment that does not depend on physical proximity to a major market.
All of this points to a wider shift in how development should be measured. Economic growth remains important, but GDP alone cannot reveal whether households are becoming more secure, whether graduates are finding meaningful work, whether farmers are earning more from their output or whether roads are lowering the cost of doing business.
The development thinking gaining ground internationally, including the United Nations’ emphasis on implementation, resilience, human capital, technology and better measures of progress, carries a useful reminder. Development must ultimately be visible in people’s lives.
Here lies the real significance of Governor Oyebanji’s second term. His practical temperament, his frequently demonstrated belief that problems can be solved and his habit of working with stakeholders provide a useful foundation. Significantly, he has already stated that the next phase of his administration will focus on leveraging investments in infrastructure to drive industrial productivity and economic prosperity, with particular emphasis on agricultural industrialisation and the knowledge economy through the Special Agro-Processing Zone and the Ekiti Knowledge Zone.
The agenda ahead, however, is larger than continuity. It requires the different parts of Ekiti’s economy to reinforce one another. Roads must open markets. Agriculture must feed industry. Tourism must create businesses. Education must supply talent. The airport must support commerce. Technology must widen opportunity.
The outcome should be a clearer economic identity for Ekiti. Picture a state where farmers move produce efficiently, processors secure reliable raw materials, manufacturers reach markets with ease and tourists travel in comfort. In that same state, graduates move smoothly into professional practice and technology entrepreneurs build successful businesses without first relocating to Lagos or Abuja. That is what it means to transform assets into an economy.
The agenda is demanding, but it is not beyond the state’s reach. Ekiti already possesses many of the essential ingredients: an educated population, substantial agricultural capacity, major educational institutions, important tourism assets, expanding road infrastructure, an emerging aviation gateway and a government entering a second term with considerable experience. What is needed now is sharper prioritisation, faster execution and an unrelenting focus on outcomes. The broad direction has largely been articulated. The challenge is turning ambition into measurable economic results.
That should be the measure of the next four years. The question is not how many projects are commissioned, roads inaugurated or programmes announced.
It is whether Ekiti becomes easier to move through, more attractive to investors, more productive in agriculture, stronger in tourism, better at retaining its graduates, more competitive in technology and more capable of creating decent work. If that happens, the second term will achieve something greater than continuity. It will help ensure that the Fountain of Knowledge remains a living source of Ekiti’s future rather than a memory of its past.
The final poser for Governor Oyebanji is whether his second term will be as impactful as the first term, or he intends to slow down.