Senatorial candidate empowers 3,500 artisans in Ogun West
The All Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial candidate for Ogun West, Sen. Olamilekan Yayi launched an economic empowerment programme on Tuesday at Ilaro.
The empowerment programme, organised in collaboration with the National Productivity Centre, Abuja, enrolled 3,500 beneficiaries trained in 11 different vocational skills.
Yayi said at the launch that the programme was designed to alleviate poverty.
He said it would make beneficiaries to become self-reliant and was a way of giving back to the society.
He added that another empowerment programme focused on graduates trained in Information and Communication Technology.
Yayi said that as a lawmaker of more than 19 years at state and federal levels, giving requisite skills and empowering youths and women was of paramount importance to him.
“In our present situation, in addition to good education, skills of various kinds are advantageous in generating income and combating unemployment and under-employment.
“Training and skills acquisition, entrepreneurship development, Information and Communication Technology training and provision of equipment are ways that I achieve effective representation.
“Tens of thousands have benefited from these programmes facilitated by me and God willing, many more thousands will benefit when I become your representative in 2023,’’ he assured the senatorial district.
Yayi urged his political opponents not to feel intimidated with the massive empowerment, but to regard it as a way of improving the livelihood of the people.
“Basically, I will start by saying that I’m teaching my people how to fish rather than giving them fish. This is the first time I’m doing the programme myself.
“This is more elaborate and bigger. It is all about training and retraining my people in various vocations and empowering them with necessary tools to become self-employed,’’ he said.
Yayi expressed optimism that many of the participants would start producing locally-made goods and services at the level of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
Newsmen reports that start-up kits given to beneficiaries in the N130 million empowerment programme are hair saloon equipment, fabric and leather sewing machines, make-up kits as well as and seed money.
Others got crockery and money to start fishery business.
Some of the beneficiaries who spoke with newsmen expressed their gratitude while calling on other politicians to emulate Yayi so as to alleviate poverty and unemployment.
