1. OFFICE OF THE DEPUTY GOVERNOR
Speech of
Her Excellency Mrs. ‘Funmi OLAYINKA
Deputy Governor of Ekiti State, Nigeria,
At the Youth Summit organized by the State Government and RISE
Network as part of activities marking the One year in office of the
Dr. Kayode Fayemi led administration in Ekiti State, on Tuesday
October 11, 2011.
Protocols
Great youths of Nigeria and the youth at heart, I
welcome you all to this Youth summit put together by
our state government in collaboration with RISE Network
for our youths.
This summit is organized with the intention of providing
opportunities for youths to reassess their contributions
to national development in general and particularly that
of Ekiti State.
I am aware that the objectives of this summit amongst
others are:
• To ensure cultural transformation and capacity
building that will ensure wholesome mental,
financial and intellectual liberation of the average
Ekiti youth.
• To provide guidance and direction for their thought
process, ideas and aspirations; positively affect their
1 | Page Speech at the opening of the Youth Summit organized
by the State Government in collaboration with RISE on Tuesday
October 11, 2011, in Ado-Ekiti.

2. OFFICE OF THE DEPUTY GOVERNOR
mindsets and refocus their creative energies on
purposeful endeavours.
• To encourage Ekiti youths to value education again,
while we create a first level platform for talent
discovery, intellectual and skill empowerment in
order to strategically position them for gainful
employment after school.
• To re-vitalize the time honoured values of Ekiti fore-
fathers of enlightenment, discipline and dignity of
labour.
On behalf of your governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi (Ph.D), a
lover of the youths who had put the issue of youth
development on the front burner of the administration of
the state, I welcome you to this important summit,
where we hope our youths will sit together in a relaxed
atmosphere to chart a new path of self development for
themselves.
The 8-point agenda of this administration re-emphasized
our belief in the youth as leaders of tomorrow. This is
partly why four items on the agenda are aimed at
encouraging youths at achieving their full potentials.
As you are equally aware, the administration of Dr.
Fayemi because of his strong conviction in youth
development has in the last one year reduced
unemployment among our youths, while also planning to
engage not less than 20,000 Ekiti youths who would be
trained in mechanised agriculture by 2014.
2 | Page Speech at the opening of the Youth Summit organized
by the State Government in collaboration with RISE on Tuesday
October 11, 2011, in Ado-Ekiti.

3. OFFICE OF THE DEPUTY GOVERNOR
Another item where the governor has being engaging our
youths is industrial development under which the state
government intends to create technology and industrial
parks for small and medium scale enterprises and
establishing micro-credit facilities for young
entrepreneur.
I am glad to inform you that no fewer than 20 young
entrepreneurs have been empowered financially to
establish their own businesses and many others are on
the queue to benefit from the programme.
If there is any area which the state government has
excelled in the last one year, it is in the area of job
creation for the youths. It is on record that over 5,000 of
our youths have been taken off the streets and absorbed
into the state government service under the Job Creation
and Youth Empowerment programme of the government.
Just this morning, I had at an earlier event, opened a
training programme for another batch of 2, 500 youths
under the state Volunteers Corps scheme. This
programme is ongoing and our plan is to take thousands
of our youths off the streets through gainful employment
in the years to come.
May I assure you that the programme is receiving
accolades and fast becoming a model as exemplified in
the applause it received recently from the Minister of
Finance, Dr (Mrs) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala who
recommended the programme to other states of the
3 | Page Speech at the opening of the Youth Summit organized
by the State Government in collaboration with RISE on Tuesday
October 11, 2011, in Ado-Ekiti.

4. OFFICE OF THE DEPUTY GOVERNOR
federation as a way of combating youth unemployment
in the country.
While the state government is concerned about the
future of our youths, it is disheartening that some of our
youths of today are daily endangering their lives by
indulging in social vices that can compromise their
futures as leaders of tomorrow.
Many of our youths in higher institutions are daily being
recruited into secret cults that promote criminal
activities exemplified by the upsurge in crimes such as
armed robberies, internet frauds and rape cases which
have further dimmed the hope of a brighter future for
some of our youths.
It is in this light that I call on the federal government to
take the issue of youth unemployment seriously and find
solutions to various problems associated with our
youths, as it portends great danger for the future of this
country.
I hope the relevant authorities at the federal level will
redouble their efforts to engage our youths in meaningful
and productive ventures for the good of the country.
In Ekiti state, the greatest challenge facing the youths is
in the area of complacency and lack of willingness to
work on the part of an average youth.
4 | Page Speech at the opening of the Youth Summit organized
by the State Government in collaboration with RISE on Tuesday
October 11, 2011, in Ado-Ekiti.

5. OFFICE OF THE DEPUTY GOVERNOR
Also as identified by the organisers of this summit,
another major challenge is the inability of an average
Ekiti youth to measure up to their contemporaries in
neighbouring states and the sub-standard quality of
education and graduates churned out by tertiary
institutions.
Beyond this is the perception of the youth in the state
that government and politics are mainstream industry
and must be responsible for their livelihood.
I am happy that this summit has been packaged to
address some of these challenges and assist our youths
to rediscover themselves towards becoming responsible
members of the society.
It is expected that this summit will provide a
springboard for the indigenes of the state and other
youths from diverse disciplines within the society to
teach, interact and mentor Ekiti Youth participants,
birthing in them a greater vision for life and inspiring
them to greater heights as they scale the ladder of
success.
I wish you a successive summit and thank you for
listening.
5 | Page Speech at the opening of the Youth Summit organized
by the State Government in collaboration with RISE on Tuesday
October 11, 2011, in Ado-Ekiti.

6. OFFICE OF THE DEPUTY GOVERNOR
H.E. MRS. ‘FUNMI OLAYINKA
DEPUTY GOVERNOR OF EKITI STATE, NIGERIA
October 10, 2011
6 | Page Speech at the opening of the Youth Summit organized
by the State Government in collaboration with RISE on Tuesday
October 11, 2011, in Ado-Ekiti.