Governor Biodun Oyebanji of Ekiti State has applauded the lawmaker representing Ekiti North Federal constituency II in the House of Representatives, Hon. Davidson Akinlayo Kolawole, for empowering thousands of his constituents.
Governor Oyebanji gave the commendation an elaborate empowerment ceremony by Hon Akinlayo, which was graced by traditional rulers, top government functionaries, political bigwigs and party loyalists in the state.
Oyebanji, who was represented by his deputy, Chief Monisade Afuye, noted that the empowerment programme was one of its kind in Ekiti, just as members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state posited that such a massive empowerment in that constituency was novel and historical.
The Rep, whose constituency is Ido-Osi, llejemeje and Moba local governments, had given out scholarships, bags of fertilizer, sewing machines, electricity generating sets, cash grants to widows for small businesses; spraying machines, roofing sheets, cash and fabrics for widows, and numerous other items for which the governor applauded the lawmaker.
The Deputy Governor in her goodwill message applauded also Governor Oyebanji for building a workable synergy with Ekiti NASS members saying, “you could attest to the fact that Governor Oyebanji has established a very strong and reliable partnership with the nine members of the National Assembly from our dear state, and this accounts for the high level of federal presence that we’re witnessing in Ekiti today.
“Through this partnership, Ekiti has experienced an increase in road infrastructure, establishment of university, conversion of specialist hospital to a Federal Medical Centre, and building of school hostels for medical students of the Ekiti State University.
“I plead with the beneficiaries, please, don’t sell off these materials. Try to make good use of them. There is nothing to profit when you sell them. But if you use them for the purpose meant for, then, you will enjoy the gains better.”
Akinlayo said the efforts were to complement those of President Bola Tinubu administration to assuage the suffering of the masses.
As part of the empowerment programme, he said there had been a medical outreach by medical experts who carried out a series of tests, ranging from sugar level, cholesterol level, sight examination, blood pressure, and other medical tests with the provision of relevant drugs for tested patients.
He added that individuals with severe medical conditions were referred to standard hospitals with assurances to pay for their medical expenses.
According to him, the empowerment was “just a stepping stone. What we are doing is to empower and uplift the beneficiaries. This will play a significant role in their lives. As it is, things are hard in the society. The little we can do is just to uplift and give them succour. That succour is what we have done.
“We gave out a lot of money to people – widows, elderly women. We selected 320 across my constituency. We give each N50.000 to start up something. We also clothed them, we gave them Ankara and Guinea Brocade.
“We are giving bursary to students in higher schools of Learning in my Federal constituency. Regardless of numbers, as many as they are, we will give them something to relieve their parents of school burden.”
Amongst the materials given to constituents 150 sewing machines; 500 bags of 50kg fertilizers; 32 motorcycles; 150 grinding machines; 100 bundles of roofing sheets; 100 Elepaq generators; 128 knapsack spraying machines; 150 hair dryers; hundreds bundle of guinea brocade; hundreds bundle of Ankara; N50,000 cash gift to all the 32 ward chairmen, youth leaders, women leaders, and secretaries across the constituency; N50,000 cash gift to 320 widows i.e 10 widows per ward; N25,000 cash gift to 320 chieftaincy holders i.e 10 chieftaincy holders per ward; N25,000 cash gift to 750 students; N75,000 cash gift awarded to 21 exceptionally brilliant students, with cash gift to 100 students from Ikosu Grammar School. According to Hon. Akinlayo, he chose to award the bursary so as to ease the financial burden of the students’ parents.
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