SILVERBIRD AWARD: OYEBANJI JOINS THE EXCLUSIVE CLUB OF LEGENDS
The BAO Impact Series No. 15
BY ODUNAYO OGUNMOLA
The solid good governance and eventful two-and-half years being enjoyed by residents of Ekiti State under the leadership of His Excellency Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji has been gloriously recognized by Silverbird Communications Limited, operators of Silverbird Television.
The communications and electronic media giant has acknowledged two-and-half years of excellent leadership, uncommon transformation, unprecedented impact on the lives of the people of Ekiti State and the confirmation of the giant strides recorded during the first two years of the Oyebanji Administration.
The award is a reward of hard work, perseverance in leadership, relentless networking for the overall interest of Ekiti, paying attention to details and implementation of an efficacious blueprint, the six-pillar agenda which is packed with impactful policies that has improved the standard of living of the people of the Land of Honour.
With over 300 projects across the State and life-changing policies within the time under review and still counting, Governor Oyebanji has raised the bar of governance in Ekiti and this has culminated in his consideration for the prestigious award of Silverbird Man of the Year Award for 2024.
The Ekiti Governor has touched virtually all sectors through his six-pillar agenda and the results are already there for everybody to see. This impact is being felt in the area of prudent management of the state resources which has led to zero borrowing since coming to office or substantial increase in the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).
Under Governor Oyebanji’s watch, Ekiti has become a prominent destination for local and foreign investors; a burgeoning haven where Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are flourishing; a state where the government patronizes competent local contractors, dealers, market men and women thereby putting an end to capital flight.
With Governor Oyebanji on the saddle, Ekiti has become a prime hub for agriculture development where agribusiness is flourishing with the coming of investors and incorporation of youths into agriculture who are being empowered to become millionaires in agriculture in no distant time.
The welfare of civil servants is another area where Governor Oyebanji has perfectly ticked the box. Human Capital Development in education, health and empowerment of citizens in Ekiti are very visible to the blind and audible to the deaf.
Ekiti is one of the most peaceful states in Nigeria: there has been no politically -motivated killing in the state since Oyebanji’s ascendancy and the Governor enjoys good and cordial relationship with people across the various political divides.
Governor Oyebanji is an epitome of exemplary leadership and Ekiti State has become a model of governance as attested to by the civil society, development partners and international agencies. The ease of doing business in Ekiti is second to none through the conducive atmosphere and incentives made available to investors by the Governor.
Ekiti has the highest number of competent elected and appointed female political office holders in Nigeria with women occupying the positions of the Deputy Governor, Deputy Speaker and five other female members of the House of Assembly, Secretary to the State Government, Head of Service, Accountant General, Auditor General for Local Government, more local government chairman, councillors, supervisors and advisers.
The Silverbird Man of the Year Award, the most glamorous of all the awards on offer at the Silverbird Award Night given to Governor Oyebanji, is an award that resulted from the votes cast by Nigerians cutting across the various political, ethnic and religious divides. Governor Oyebanji polled the highest number of votes to beat other nominees for the award.
Contrary to the belief of a very few misguided wailers and naysayers, it is not an award that can be bought and neither was the award based on partisan considerations. Governor Oyebanji’s brilliance and sublime performance in governance was being studied without his knowledge and the results is now out for everyone to see.
Senator Ben Murray-Bruce, the President of Silverbird Group and his siblings have built a great reputation in the entertainment industry and media industry and such hard-earned renown cannot be impugned by disgruntled opposition.
It must be borne in mind that Senator Murray-Bruce is a member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), the political platform through which he represented Bayelsa East in the 8th Senate between 2015 and 2019 while Governor Oyebanji belongs to the All Progressives Congress (APC) so the award couldn’t have been tainted by political “paddy-paddy” and an attempt to promote a fellow party member.
Many prominent Nigerians who had positively touched the lives of their fellow countrymen in particular and humanity in general had been named as Silverbird Man of the Year. A good number of them belong to different political parties while we had some of them were not even politicians but based on the impact they made.
Some of the former awardees are former Lagos State Governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola; former Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufai; former Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Prof Dora Akunyili; former Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole; former House of Representatives Speaker, Rt Hon Aminu Tambuwal; business mogul and Chairman of Globacom, Otunba Mike Adenuga Jr, among others.
Besides, this is not the first award that Governor Oyebanji won into his kitty since coming to power on 16th October, 2022. The DAILY INDEPENDENT Newspaper had earlier given him the award of Governor of the Year Award, 2023 (Grassroots Development). Earlier this year, he clinched NEW TELEGRAPH Newspaper’s Governor of the Year(Good Governance and Grassroots Development).
Governor Oyebanji has just been recently named for THE VANGUARD Newspaper’s Best Governor Award on Good Governance 2024 with the investiture ceremony scheduled for next month (April).
By scooping the Silverbird Man of the Year Award, Governor Oyebanji has joined the exclusive club of legends in Nigeria whose hard work in bettering the lots of the masses has been recognized and duly rewarded and this will serve as motivation for him to do more in Ekiti and even beyond Ekiti in the nearest future.
Ogunmola is Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Media (Print Media).