The Technical Advisor to Governor Oyebanji on Youth Inclusion, Hon Ayo Ojo, has declared that Vice President Kashim Shettima’s one-day working visit to Ekiti State is nothing short of a thunderous endorsement of Governor Biodun Oyebanji’s youth-first agenda. Speaking exclusively to JIROLTV on Tuesday in Ado Ekiti, Ojo said the groundbreaking of the Ekiti Knowledge Zone along Ijan Road is not just another government project – it is a direct answer to the desperate prayers of millions of unemployed and underemployed young people across the state. According to him, the VP’s presence validates what he called the Oyebanji tech revolution, and he pledged unwavering loyalty to the Governor’s blueprint.
The EKZ, first conceptualized in 2013 under former Governor Kayode Fayemi and designated a Free Trade Zone by former President Muhammadu Buhari, has finally found its true champion in Governor Oyebanji, Ojo stressed. He revealed that the zone has already attracted a staggering 80 million dollars from the federal government and the African Development Bank. The first phase alone, he said, will create over 20,000 jobs, with approximately 100,000 jobs expected upon full completion. For Hon Ojo, those numbers are not statistics – they are real futures for real young people who have waited too long.
Drawing a sharp contrast between past administrations and the current one, the Technical Advisor argued that Oyebanji has moved youth empowerment from empty slogans to visible, life-changing infrastructure. He pointed out that the Digital Accelerated Programme has already trained one thousand Ekiti youths in ICT, while partnerships with NITDA have empowered over one hundred young people in Artificial Intelligence, Digital Entrepreneurship, and Mobile Cybersecurity. But the EKZ, Ojo emphasized, takes everything to an entirely new level – featuring a green technology park, world-class roads, dedicated electricity and water systems, plus an incubator programme providing pre-seed and seed funding through the Ekiti Innovation Fund.
In today’s world, Hon Ojo declared, technology is the only currency that matters. Nations that ignore it become irrelevant, and Governors who fail to prepare their youth for it have no business leading. He made an ironclad pledge on behalf of his office and the entire youth constituency: there will be no deviation from Governor Oyebanji’s Shared Prosperity agenda. Reacting to President Tinubu’s message delivered through Vice President Shettima – that Oyebanji deserves re-election on June 20 based on his rapid transformation of Ekiti – Ojo said the youth are already mobilizing, recalling that Ekiti gave President Tinubu 201,494 votes representing 67 percent in 2023.
Hon Ojo concluded with a direct, unflinching message to every young person and resident of Ekiti: the era of begging for jobs is over. The era of creating value, building enterprises, and exporting technology from Ekiti to the world has begun, and Governor Oyebanji is leading the charge. He urged all young people to see the Knowledge Zone as their own – their future, their responsibility to protect and build upon – insisting that nothing will distract this administration from delivering that vision.
