Biodun Oyebanji, Ekiti State Governor. Photo Source: Facebook.
|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The Ekiti State governor, Biodun Oyebanji, delivered a statewide broadcast ahead of the June 20, 2026, gubernatorial election.
In his 14-minute address, the incumbent governor, who is also seeking a second term, made several claims centred around his achievements during his first four years in office.
The claims cut across job creation, tourism, health, economic and infrastructural development.
This fact check examines some of the statements made by the governor and compares them with publicly available records.
Claim 1: The Ekiti State government has employed over 5,000 youths in various vacancies in government positions.
Verdict: Misleading! The Ekiti State government has consistently referred to the 5,000 figure as youth engagement in the “Bring Back Youth Into Agriculture” programme, not employment in government positions.
On May 15, 2024, the Ekiti State government announced it had created 20,000 jobs across formal and informal sectors. However, only 2,400 of this figure were employed in the civil service.
Reports on the Ekiti State Government website break the figures to include “1,500 primary school teachers, 500 secondary school teachers and 400 workers in various sectors of the State Civil Service.”
Claim 2: The government has started the construction of the Ekiti Knowledge Zone.
Verdict: True. Ekiti Knowledge Zone is a technology hub designed to foster innovation, research and education in the state. Reports from Arise News, the Federal Ministry of Information and the Ekiti State Government itself confirmed the flag-off of the construction of the Ekiti Knowledge Zone building. The ceremony took place on June 9, 2026, in the presence of Kashim Shettima, Vice President of Nigeria. A video from the foundation laying is attached here.
Claim 3: Ekiti has the second-highest school enrolment rate and the lowest out-of-school-children rate in Nigeria.
Verdict: Mostly false. The 2022 surveys launched by the Nigerian government and UNICEF put Imo State as having the fewest out-of-school children in Nigeria, at one per cent and Ekiti at two per cent.
On the other hand, the metric for measuring enrollment volume rating is by population. For example, Ekiti is a small state with a population of 2.3 to 3.5 million, ranking 29th nationally by population. Because it has fewer people, the total number of students sitting in its schools is lower than in massive states like Kano or Lagos.
The only difference, however, is that the percentage of Ekiti’s actual child population that goes to school exceeds that of other states, except Imo.
In 2024, the State government itself acknowledged that “Ekiti is ranked one of the highest in school enrollment in Nigeria and one of the states with the least out-of-school children with 2.5%.”
Premium Times also documented that statement in its report.
Claim 4: Ekiti has one of the lowest rates of child and maternal mortality in the country.
Verdict: Mostly true. There is no official national per-state ranking list for maternal and child mortality in Nigeria. However, recent reports by Social Voices and the Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) put Ekiti as one of the states with the lowest mortality rate for mothers and infants.
It recorded 239 deaths per 100,000 live births for mothers and 27 deaths per 1,000 live births for infants in 2024.
Claim 5: Vaccination coverage is almost at 100 per cent.
Verdict: Misleading. Data from the state’s Ministry of Health and Human Services confirms that the statewide Measles–Rubella (MR) mass vaccination campaign reached 99 per cent coverage.
The state successfully immunised 1,211,846 children out of a targeted 1,218,971. However, the available data only accounted for MR vaccination, not other vaccines children need or take. So the success of MR vaccination cannot be referenced as overall vaccination success.
Claim 6: Ekiti life expectancy is far above the national average.
Verdict: True. Data from the National Population Commission (NPC) and the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) consistently rank Ekiti among the top states in the country with the longest-living residents.
While the overall national average for Nigeria sits between 54 and 56.2 years, Ekiti is 59.6 years for men and 64.3 years for women.
Claim 7: Ekiti is building an 80-bed capacity complex at the Ekiti State Teaching Hospital Complex.
Verdict: True. Reports show that the governor flagged off the construction of the 80-bed hospital complex on Oct 18, 2024. The multipurpose facility is being constructed in the premises of the Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital, Ado Ekiti (EKSUTH).
Claim 8: The Ekiti State government has completed the agro-allied cargo airport.
Verdict: True. Punch newspaper reports that commercial flight operations have commenced at the Ekiti Agro-Allied International Cargo Airport, after the state government spent over N49.7 billion on the facility. The Ekiti State government also published this development on its website.
Claim 9: The Ekiti State government has completed the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu flyover
Verdict: True. On June 9, 2026, the Presidential Villa State House reported that President Bola Tinubu commissioned economic and infrastructure projects in Ekiti State, including a 1.2-kilometre flyover named after him.
The Ekiti State government also confirmed the inauguration of a 1.2-kilometre flyover during which it appealed to residents to re-elect the governor for a second term.
Claim 10: The Ekiti State government has completed its Independent Power Plant (IPP) project.
Verdict: True. Back in November 2023, the Vanguard newspaper reported that the Ekiti State government said its Independent Power Project (IPP) was up and running to address the state’s electricity supply shortage.
The news outlet further reported that the IPP supplies uninterrupted power to the Governor’s Office, Government House, State Secretariat Complex, House of Assembly Complex, Ekiti State University (EKSUTH), and streetlights along major roads in the city.
In January 2026, Punch newspaper reported the Ekiti State government’s plan to strengthen the national grid and expand the State’s IPP to other key institutions. Part of the project will be to supply electricity from the State’s IPP to the Ekiti State Water Treatment Plant, the Technical College and the Technology Incubation Centre in Ureje, Ado-Ekiti.
Claim 11: The Ekiti State government has completed the Ekiti revenue house
Verdict: True. The Executive Chairperson of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and Chairperson of the Joint Tax Board (JTB), Zacch Adedeji, and the Ekiti State Governor, Biodun Oyebanji, were reported to have jointly commissioned the Ekiti State Revenue House in Ado-Ekiti on Oct. 22, 2025. The structure was completed nine months after its foundation was laid.
The Nigerian Revenue Service (NRS) also shared the development on its official Facebook page. NRS stated that the commissioning reflects the shared commitment of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Joint Tax Board (JTB) and the Ekiti State government to strengthen tax administration in Nigeria.
Claim 12: The Ekiti State government has completed its Bureau of Special Projects complex
Verdict: True. The Ekiti State government shared live coverage of the commissioning of its Bureau of Special Projects complex, commissioned by the State governor, Biodun. The commissioning happened on June 8, 2026.
The Ekiti State Ministry of Information also announced the commissioning of the complex, which also housed a 100-seater multipurpose hall, via its X handle.
Claim 13: The Ekiti State government has completed its Local Government Service Commission.
Verdict: True. On Oct. 19, 2024, the Ekiti State government, via its X handle, announced the commissioning of its New Local Government Commission complex, under the leadership of the State governor.
It said the event marked the fulfilment of a “28-year aspiration” for a suitable office space for the commission, which had operated from temporary accommodations since Ekiti State’s creation in 1996.
Claim 14: Ekiti State broiler production scheme has opened in Ikole, Efun, Ode, Ido-Ekiti, Ilupeju and Ikere-Ekiti.
Verdict: True. MSMEAfrica reports that the scheme, designed to train and support young people in poultry farming and agribusiness, selected 250 youth from Erinfun, Ilupeju, Ido, Ado Ekiti, Ode, Efon, Ikere, and Igede to join the programme’s third cohort.
Thereafter, The Guardian newspaper reported that the scheme has established six rearing centres at different locations in Ekti State and has graduated over 200 participants across four cohorts.
Claim 15: Ekiti State has established the Ilu Eye Agro Trading and Aggregation Company.
Verdict: True. Nigerian Tribune and The Nation newspapers reported that the Ekiti State government established the Ilu Eye Agro-trading and Aggregation company to ensure food security and economic growth. Its purpose is to sideline middlemen who purchase food crops at low prices and hoard them to resell later at exorbitant prices.
