Founding father of the Tunji Olowolafe Basis and Chancellor of Ekiti State College (EKSU), Dr. Tunji Olowolafe, has unveiled an bold construction blueprint for Ekiti State, calling for a planned transition from its popularity as a centre of finding out to an financial system pushed via abilities, generation, business manufacturing, and wealth advent.
Olowolafe, who delivered the lead paper on the Ekiti at 30 Long term Summit held on the Obafemi Awolowo Civic and Conference Centre in Ado-Ekiti, mentioned the state will have to now convert its ambitious highbrow capital into measurable financial prosperity.
Talking at the theme: ‘The Trail to Ekiti’s Greatness: Alternatives, Alternatives, and Imperatives for the Subsequent 30 Years’, Olowolafe known dependable energy, sensible vocational abilities and direct get admission to to business provide chains and international markets as 3 important necessities for the state’s financial transformation.
He proposed an instantaneous technical audit of Ekiti’s 177 political wards in order to setting up renewable-energy microgrids in a position to powering faculties, well being centres, workshops, and small companies.
In keeping with him, photo voltaic microgrids of between 300 and 500 kilowatts may serve most of the wards, describing such initiatives as bankable and inside the state’s capability to execute with toughen from the Rural Electrification Company (REA).
Olowolafe often known as for a vital growth of vocational and technical training, arguing that the rising international financial system would an increasing number of praise sensible competence in spaces reminiscent of photo voltaic set up, welding, fabrication, equipment restore, meals processing and different high-value trades.
Whilst acknowledging the six executive technical schools already established via the state, he mentioned they had been insufficient to satisfy the call for from younger folks throughout Ekiti State’s 16 native executive spaces.
He advocated the modernisation in their curricula and the recruitment of grasp vocational instructors from nations with sturdy technical training methods, together with Switzerland, Germany, Canada and South Africa.
Olowolafe additional prompt primary industries to take part immediately in curriculum design, coaching and recruitment from technical schools, pronouncing the standing of vocational training would upward thrust as soon as younger folks may obviously see pathways from the workshop to well-paying jobs.
He mentioned Ekiti State already possessed the basics required to prosper in a unexpectedly converting global, mentioning its training tradition, tertiary establishments, skilled excellence and disciplined paintings ethic.
However he warned that advances in synthetic intelligence, robotics, biotechnology, automation and new calories methods had been converting the worldwide financial system at unparalleled velocity and that states and societies not able to conform risked being left in the back of.
Olowolafe praised the continuity that had characterized some primary construction projects in Ekiti State, mentioning the Ekiti Wisdom Zone and the Ekiti Agro-Allied World Shipment Airport.
He famous that the airport represents an instance of successive administrations construction on one any other’s efforts, from its conception via former Governor Segun Oni, thru land acquisition and web page clearing beneath former Governor Ayodele Fayose, building beneath former Governor Kayode Fayemi, and of entirety beneath Governor Biodun Oyebanji.
Turning to agriculture, the businessman and scientific physician challenged the state to transport aggressively from manufacturing of uncooked commodities to price addition.
The use of cocoa for instance, Olowolafe puzzled why, in spite of Ekiti’s pool of universities, engineers, scientists and artisans, farmers had been nonetheless drying cocoa beans in primitive prerequisites moderately than the use of inexpensive in the neighborhood produced solar-powered dryers.
He mentioned Ekiti State produced about 4,500 lots of cocoa in 2025 and proposed a transparent purpose that cocoa grown within the state must an increasing number of be processed into chocolate and different completed merchandise at supply.
“The central query,” he mentioned, was once how Ekiti State may flip wisdom and innovation into development in a position to lifting communities out of poverty.
The similar concept, he added, must follow to forged minerals, with Ekiti State creating the medical and technical capability to spot, procedure and derive larger financial price from its mineral sources moderately than exporting them in uncooked shape.
Olowolafe additionally introduced 3 primary commitments via the Tunji Olowolafe Basis against supporting the state’s construction time table.
Beneath the primary initiative, the root, running with the Ekiti State Govt, would set up and improve fashionable Knowledge and Conversation Era centres within the state’s six executive technical schools, modelled after the GOMTECH ICT Centre in Are-Ekiti, with solar energy and high-speed Starlink web.
The basis would additionally recruit world vocational coaching professionals on its payroll to toughen academics, educate scholars and lend a hand in reforming the technical school curriculum, with good fortune measured via the collection of graduates who protected skilled certification, employment or determine companies.
Thirdly, Olowolafe pledged that the root would paintings with main mining faculties in Canada and South Africa in a bid to make EKSU’s Division of Geology the most productive in Africa inside of 5 years.
At EKSU, he mentioned the root’s Mission Digi-Train was once geared toward bringing all 650 teachers to complete virtual instructing talent, whilst high-speed Starlink web have been put in at 12 places around the college campus.
He challenged the prevailing technology to show equivalent braveness.
“Ekiti State has mineral sources, money plants and very good human capital. Our first 30 years proved that the state may exist. The following 10 will have to turn out that Ekiti State will lead,” he declared.