Ekiti State Dep. Gov. Monisade Afuye has instituted a social security net for 110 widows and elderly persons in Ikere-Ekiti Local Government Area.
Speaking at the inauguration in Ikere-Ekiti, Afuye said that the gesture was in fulfilment of the government’s pledge to alleviate poverty among the vulnerable persons.
Represented by the Deputy Chief of Staff, Mr Victor Adeniyi, she said that the scheme was targeted at the vulnerable persons in the council, particularly widows.
According to her, the beneficiaries, drawn from the 11 wards in the council, will receive N5,000 monthly to palliate their sufferings.
Afuye said that women constituted a larger number of the beneficiaries because “available statistics confirm that women are the worst hit in the country’s poverty index.”
She said that the scheme was in consonance with the human capital development policy of the Gov. Biodun Oyebanji-led government.
She said that the governor “is incurably resolute to tackle poverty in the state” by giving financial and emotional support to women and other vulnerable groups to make them contribute to the socio-economic development of the state.
The deputy governor said that the social safety net would also help in creating a balance between the dependant and productive population to stabilise the polity.
She said, “Gov. Oyebanji, on assumption of office, promised that no Ekiti person deserves suffering on account of age, gender, health and poor financial status.
“I want to express my confidence and belief that this scheme would respond positively to the yearnings of the captured population.
“This is a sign that Oyebanji is a welfarist and masses-loving leader.
“During the Christmas and New year’s festivities, I visited all the 11 wards and made substantial donations.
“I promised that 10 aged, widows and vulnerables from each of the wards will benefit from this safety scheme that was devised to reduce poverty in the state, beginning from January and that is exactly what we are doing today.”
She said that the beneficiaries were generated by the ward chairmen and councillors and not herself.
“I allowed each ward to compile the lists so that the right persons are captured as beneficiaries.
“This shows that hope is not lost. Let us be hopeful as Nigerians,” the deputy governor said.
She gave an assurance that those left out would be captured in other programmes to be instituted by the government to palliate the sufferings of the poor masses.
She appealed to the beneficiaries and Ekiti populace to vote for the APC presidential candidate in the February 25 poll, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, so that the dividend of democracy being enjoyed under the current government could continue.
She further urged them to vote for all the APC candidates in the upcoming elections “to complement what Oyebanji is doing to develop our dear state.”
Some of the beneficiaries, including Mrs Veronica Ayeniyo, Mrs Abiola Florence, Mrs Alatise Racheal and Mr Akinlaja Zaccheus, thanked her for her welfarist approach to governance.
They said thst the gesture had sent a signal that Ekiti people did not make mistake in electing the governor and his deputy in 2022.
They promised support for all the APC candidates in the elections to sustain the good work being initiated by the present government.