Senator Yayi Empowers 3,500 Ogun West Artisans With Start-Up Kits, N130million Start-Up Fund
ABEOKUTA – In preparation for his homecoming ahead of the 2023 National Assembly elections in Ogun State, the All Progressives Congress (APC) Senatorial Candidate for Ogun West, Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola Yayi on Monday launched his economy empowerment programme tagged Oko’wo Yayi with N130million start up fund and kits for the beneficiaries.
The empowerment programme in collaboration with National Productivity Centre, Abuja was for 3,500 beneficiaries who had been trained on 11 different vocational skills.
Addressing the mammoth crowd at the Asade Agunloye modern pavilion venue of the empowerment programme, the facilitator and Senator representing Lagos West Senatorial District, Senator Adeola Olamilekan Yayi said the intention was take the people out of poverty.
He said the empowerment programme would also make the beneficiaries to be self-reliance and means of giving back to the society.
Senator Adeola stated that in addition to the empowerment programme, there is also other programme for graduates who have been trained and internationally certified in ICT programme.
He stressed that, the target was for gainful employment for youths and women irrespective of tribe, religion or political affiliations in Ogun West.
Senator Adeola noted that, as a legislator of over 19 years at state and federal level, giving requisite skills and empowering youths and women to establish them in gainful self-employment was paramount importance of his core values.
“In our present situation, in addition to good education, skills of various kinds are advantageous in generating income and combating rising unemployment and under-employment. Towards this end, many trainings for skill acquisition, entrepreneurship development and ICT as well as empowerment with equipment are ways that I achieve effective representation. To the glory of God, tens of thousands have benefited from these programmes facilitated by me and God willing, with your support and mandate, many more thousands will benefit when I become your representative next year.
“Basically, I will start by saying that I’m teaching my people how to fish rather than give them fish. As you can see, this is the first time I’m doing the programme myself. This is more elaborate and more bigger. As you can see, it is all about training and retraining my people with various vocational trainings and empowering them with necessary tools for them to be self-employed.”
He urged his political opponents not to feel intimidated with the massive empowerment, but to see it as a way of improving the livelihood of the people.
“I don’t want us to mix what is happening here to politics and that is why it is not being done while we are campaigning. We are not campaigning here. We are empowering people here today, our people that have undergone various vocational training within the last four weeks are those we are empowering here today. So, if anybody is feeling intimidated, I believe that, giving back to people who have worked so hard for us to be where we are and we are returning this to them.
“I don’t think it is a bad idea. I think it should be a welcome development rather than to be seen as an intimidation.”
The donated start up kits include, Standing Hairdryer, Standing Hair Washing Basin and Startup fund, Sewing Machine and Startup Fund, Leather Sewing Machine and Seed Fund, Professional Make Up Kit and Seed Fund.
Others are: Cooking Gas Cylinder, Double face Gas Burner, Sets of pots, cooking utensils and Startup Fund, while Startup Fund was given to some participants in fish production to start their Fishery Business.
Other participants were given a start up fund in interior Decoration/Event Planning, Agric Value Chain, and Solar Energy Business.
Senator Yayi, therefore, 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).