As part of his social contract with his constituents, a lawmaker representing Akure South / North federal constituency at the House of Representatives, Honourable Afe Olowookere, at the weekend, empowered more than 100 people within his constituency.
Some of the items distributed by Olowookere to the beneficiaries included 20 motorcycles, 10 tri- cycles, 40 sewing machines, 12 generating sets and 12 grinding machines among others
Olowookere said he had already established a synergy with the Federal School of Agriculture, Akure, the state capital, to sponsor the training of over 50 people in animal husbandry and food crop farming while some will be trained in crafts and trade like tailoring, welding and fabrication among others.
He said the empowerment was part of his electoral promises, describing it as another leap in his effort to mitigate the harsh economic conditions of the people of the state by providing economic access to wealth creation which is the hallmark of good governance.
Olowookere, specifically, said the purpose of the frequent empowerment was to keep the young and unemployed youths from the streets and stressed the importance of youths to nation building as well as the need to empower them
“ You will recall that during my campaign, I promised to offer our people very robust and effective representation in the House of Representatives. A representation that will articulate the interest of the people, re-orientate their mindset and recreate their values and help them to build self esteem.”
The lawmaker stated that his mission was to raise self employed and self dependent people who will turn to be employer of labour and also to encourage the youth to deploy their energies into productive ventures .
He said that the empowerment does not have any political undertone but said the programme was mainly designed to make the people of his constituency feel the impact of the government.
Olowookere said he had championed about five bills which will have positive impact on the people of the state and listed the bills to include, motion on the rate of kidnapping in Ondo State, which led to the creation of Anti- Kidnapping squad in the state.
Others include local government allocations and election, saying the motion was moved to enable people at the grassroots to actively participate in the administration of their area and not through caretaker Chairmen, while he assured the people of the state that the Owena Multipurpose Dam will be brought back to life very soon to provide portable water for the people of the Central senatorial district.
He urged the beneficiaries to make use of the items donated to them positively and assured those who have not made the list not to lose hope saying “ I will try as music as possible to touch as many as we can before the expiration of my tenure” pledging that the empowerment programme will be organised periodically.
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