About 500 less privileged people in Ijebu North and Ijebu East Local Government Areas of Ogun State, including traders, community leaders, artisans, religious bodies, farmers, widows and others have benefited from the second phase of the state’s Community Empowerment programme 2014.
The programme, which was initiated by the wife of the state Governor, Olufunso Amosun, was aimed at creating opportunities for the less privileged to participate in the economy and improve their earning potentials in order to assist their families fight their way out of poverty.
Speaking while distributing the small scale business items at the local government secretariat, Oke Sopen, in Ijebu North Local Government Area, Amosun explained that the programme was aimed at maximising growth opportunities among the less privileged in Ogun State and give them the enablements to reach their full potentials.
She said the programme was part of efforts of her Uplift Development Foundation Projects to complement the numerous existing empowerment opportunities provided under the Senator Ibikunle Amosun-led administration to uplift the lives of people at the grassroot.
Also speaking at the Primary Healthcare Centre, Ojowo in Ijebu East Local Government Area, the wife of the governor noted that the Community Empowerment Programme was borne out of the needs assessment carried out before embarking on the programme where various community leaders and associations were consulted to ensure that the needs of these communities were met to enable them to be self-employed and self-sufficient.
The wife of the governor assured the people that the state government would continue to embark on more people-oriented projects that would boost their economic power by providing empowerment items and cash that would enable them start up their businesses.
According to her: “This initiative is part of effort put in place by the Senator Amosun administration to increase small and medium scale enterprises among rural dwellers, thus improving the quality of lives of the citizenry through capacity building.
About 500 less privileged benefited from the second phase of the programme.
In his remarks, the Onitasin of Itasin, Oba Felix Adegbesan. lauded Mrs. Amosun for complementing the efforts and good work of that state government, particularly in areas of empowerment, noting that her kind gesture and love for the people would strengthen their support for the government in the mission to rebuild the state.
Oba Adegbesan encouraged her to sustain the empowerment programme and even do more for the people of Ijebuland and other parts of the state and charged the people to use the empowerment items for the purpose it was given to them in order to better their lots and that of their family members.
A hunter, Olugbesan Taoreed, from Ijebu Olowo, thanked the state government for the opportunity to benefit from the empowerment programme, saying he had been trusting God for cash to start up a business to complement his hunting job which had not been forth coming.
Also speaking on behalf of the youths, Olakunle Onamade said the programme was one of its kinds as no past administration had ever extended such kind gesture to youths in Ijebu East Local Government, noting that the initiative would further help in reducing poverty in the state and Nigeria by extension.
Speaking on behalf of market women, the Iyaloja of Obada Market, Ijebu-Igbo, Suliat Adelege, who was full of praises for the wife of the governor, lauded her for embarking on the empowerment programme and fulfilling her promise of distributing empowerment materials to the less-privileged.
Adelege thanked her for helping them to achieve their goals of starting a business of their own, which hitherto they have been finding it difficult to accomplish due to financial constraints.
The empowerment items distributed include Bajaj motorcycles, generating sets, big deep freezers, cassava processing drums, fumigating machines, pepper grinding machines, hair dryers, sewing machines, melon grinding machines, barbing kits, complete set of cooking sets, commercial coolers and cash among others.