_-By Segun Dipe_
Across Africa, overcoming challenges and adversity tend to be watershed moments in the leaders’ career. Whether managing technological change, responding to economic setbacks, building infrastructure or managing during a pandemic, the highest-performing leaders are those who are naturally brave, resilient, and embolden others, not the noise makers.
Within Nigeria’s political space, Dr. John Kayode Fayemi CON is not a forlorn figure. His is a perfect example of high-performing leadership. He is a team builder and a team player who brings a lot of nous to the table. He is calm, never desperate, yet has continued to attain dizzying heights with relative ease that keeps confounding his critics. He is the best definition of seasoned and a true believer that politicians can reach their peak at a mature age, once they work at it uncompromisingly.
Even beyond Africa, Fayemi has caught a niche for himself as a strategic and Critical thinker, identifying problems and proffering workable solutions. He is not just inspired, he is also an inspirer. As the Governor of Ekiti State and Chairman of Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Dr. Fayemi has traversed the global hemisphere in search of the Golden Fleece. Together, with other Nigerian Governors, he arrived Saidia in Morocco in the evening of Wednesday 7th September, 2022. His mission: to attend the Forum of Governors Règions/States of Africa (FORAF).
Like every other person, the NGF Chair arrived at the venue as a participant, but unlike others, he left as the President of the regional group of Governors. He neither lobbied nor campaigned for it, he simply got it by the recognition of his value-adding worth.
While accepting to serve in the capacity, Fayemi described the position as a burden of history, adding that leadership wasn’t just a title but an instrument that should be used to influence policies that would impact positively on the people. He said it was time Africans stopped agonising and started organising.
The qualities that stood Fayemi out at the forum must have been noticed way back in 2013. Then as first-term governor of Ekiti State, he attended the African Regional Government Best Practices Conference organized by the International Republican Institute (IRI) in Mombassa Kenya, where he presented a paper titled Imperatives for Successful Sub-national Governance and got his audience thinking how best to grow an Afrocentric democracy.
According to Fayemi, democracy is not alien to Africa; rather, what is alien is the mode of operation. He proffered in the paper that the African form of democracy should take after the pre-colonial, people-centered African village-square method, where the community would gather to thrash out issues of common concern.
Fayemi argued that the formal democratic institutions for which the village-square setting was jettisoned “are exclusive in nature, often depicting politics and governance as a winner-takes-all craft for an exclusive specialist class of politicians.” The effect of this, he argued, was that ordinary people felt alienated from government and their governments felt alienated from the people they claimed to represent. Thus, the people rarely have any input in the policy-making and implementation process, making the distance between government and the government highly inimical to democracy. This, Fayemi said, had created a lack of trust, “which simply sabotages _ab initio_ any good faith efforts to govern effectively for the benefit of our people.”
Fayemi did not just stop at identifying the problems, he proffered solutions too. Part of the solutions proferred by him was his administration’s penchant for mainstreaming of grassroots participation in policy programme development and implementation.
That ideology, which Fayemi planted in the minds of the African leaders way back in 2013, is what later germinated and brought him the fruit of becoming the President of FORAF nine years after, in 2022.
Day after their arrival in Morocco, Fayemi led his colleagues: HEs Abdulahi Sule of Nasarawa and Godwin Obaseki of Edo State, to a meeting with the Secretary General of the United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLG Africa) Mr Jean Pierre Elong Mbassi in the morning of Thursday 8th September. There, they deliberated about the objectives of FORAF and the importance of collaborations amongst the States and regions across Africa and the possibilities of growths/developments from such collaborations. His contribution during the discussion was also said to be mind-boggling.
Mr Elong highlighted the expectations of the UCLG on the roles Nigeria could play to achieving objectives of growth and less dependents amongst Africa states/regions on the western countries. Dr. Fayemi in his response reiterated the visions of the NGF and further explained what the forum had been doing in Nigeria to encourage collaborations amongst Nigerian states and, as well, other countries. He gave an example of the programme billed to hold sometimes towards the end of September involving AFREXIM in Abuja, the Chief Financial Officers training and many others.
In his usual manner, Dr. Fayemi did not fail to give his usual intellectual impetus to the Conference, which he titled: Assessing The Nigerian States’ Climate Resilient Planning and Development. He spoke about the global concerns on climate change, the Adaptation and Mitigation Strategies, the Priority Areas, Adoption of Policies and Implementation efforts using some states in Nigeria as examples.
On the sideline, Governor Fayemi led the Nigerian delegates to meet those from several regions/states in the continent to seek areas of possible developmental collaborations for States in Nigeria through the NGF, to deepen the conversations on the need for these collaborations and strengthen the objectives of FORAF, encourage other delegations to be involve in these objectives in the interest of the people of Africa.
On the 9th of September, being Friday was the D-Day. Executives and Regional representatives of the FORAF from the East, Central, West, South and North Africa held their different caucus meetings where Zonal representatives were chosen. Dr. Fayemi first emerged the Vice President from the West Africa Caucus meeting. When it was time to choose a President, from among the Vice Presidents from the various zones, they unanimously picked Dr Fayemi to serve as President, thus making the Ekiti-born Nigerian governor of Governors the first ever President of the prestigious Regional forum, with the objective of fostering collaborations among the regions/states of Africa, which will further deepen democracy and improve welfare and development for the people of Africa.
In his acceptance speech, Fayemi appreciated the August gathering for the trust reposed in him, and promised to work with everyone towards achieving the Forum’s objectives. Consequently, the FORAF President went ahead to hold his inaugural meetings with the different Zonal representatives. He promised to work with member states to identify priorities and set strategies, which would translate to operational goals to be monitored and evaluated.
Trust the selfless Fayemi, he would not just attend such a meeting without bringing back Golden Fleece for his Ekiti people. He took advantage of his position as the new/pioneer President of the Regional Group to sign several MoUs, which will translate to high collaboration between Ekiti State and some member regions in the areas of Education, Agriculture, Peer Learning, Policy Exchange and Tourism.
Fayemi and his co-Governors left Morocco in the morning of Sunday 11th September, 2022, not just as the Chairman of Nigeria Governors’ Forum, but as the President of all Governors in Africa; a position he will gladly pass to another Nigerian Governor like a baton, the moment he ceases to be governor of Ekiti State.
Who still doubts the Star Boy status of Fayemi? He is not just finishing strong as two-term Governor of Ekiti, neither will he just continue to soar in Nigeria, he is fast turning to a global brand. May God continue to bless our John, through who the little Ekiti is becoming bigger and bigger on the world map.
_Additional report from Dayo Ajibaye, Personal Assistant to Gov. Fayemi, who was with him in Morocco._