By Nudoiba Ojen
For those whose lives have been transformed by the Ojuse BAO (Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji) Initiative in the last one year, it has been celebrations and thanksgivings galore for the gesture just as the 56 beneficiaries for the March edition saw Friday, 15th March as their moment of joy and fulfilment.
And for Ojuse BAO Initiative, looking back, and having touched the lives of an uncountable number of people indirectly through empowering 150 indigent persons to start or grow their businesses in a year, there was cause to celebrate.
As such, the initiative, which is financed personally by the Governor of Ekiti State, Mr Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji, had a modest get-together for the first anniversary, where it reassured of Oyebanji’s commitment to do more to transform lives in the state.
The initiative, coordinated by a Senior Special Assistant to the Governor, Mrs Sola Abe, also on the occasion, empowered 56 indigent residents to meet their needs in areas of education, business start-up and business support for development.
Under the monthly empowerment initiative, the indigents and needy across the 16 local government areas of Ekiti State are encouraged to write to the governor specifying their areas of need which Oyebanji, through the necessary machinery would investigate to ascertain the genuineness.
Abe, reiterated Governor Oyebanji’s commitment to uplifting lives of Ekiti people, to fight poverty among them and strengthening a more inclusive and equitable society.
The SSA said, “We have over 150 beneficiaries so far. But for this month, we have 56 persons that benefitted. We have students who benefitted, we have start-ups, those who intend to start their businesses and we have also those who requested for tools to trade with who benefitted from this programme”.
The governor’s aide said that the indigent persons’ requests from the governor for December 2023 and January 2024 would be attended to in next month’s edition, urging applicants to exercise patience, adding, “the requests before us are enormous and we are attending to them with due diligence”.
“Governor Oyebanji has ensured that he tries to reduce the level of poverty in the land. He is willing to transform more lives. Aside other palliatives being given by different sectors of government in the state, this is his own initiative and it has been going on for a year,” Abe said.
Ekiti State Commissioner for Information, Taiwo Olatunbosun, who advised the beneficiaries to make good use of the opportunity, lauded Governor Oyebanji’s steadfast commitment to assisting the most vulnerable members of society through the monthly empowerment programme.
The commissioner said that the initiative served as “a testament to Governor Oyebanji’s unwavering dedication to uplifting the lives of the less fortunate and building a brighter future for all residents of Ekiti State”.
The Director General, Community Communications, Mrs Mary Oso-Omotoso, who told the beneficiaries that it was not national cake, said, “Rather it is an opportunity to develop stressing that resources for the initiative is financed from the governor’s personal salary”.
The 56 beneficiaries for the March edition including indigent students who could not pay their school fees, artisans who intend to start their trades and businesses and those who needed equipment for their businesses had written to the governor about their plight, which was addressed under the initiative.
Items distributed on the occasion included start-up kits and tools for barbers, hair dressers, grinding machines, deep freezers, industrial sewing machines and generators.
Recall that in December last year, the Ojuse BAO Initiative disbursed N20m in cash and working equipment including sewing machines, salon gadgets and refrigerators to 48 beneficiaries to provide them with sustainable livelihoods.
The monthly Ojuse BAO Initiative had among others, in April last year donated cassava grinding machine to Mr Owolabi Babatunde to revitalize his business and as well elevate the livelihoods of his employees just as testimonies from beneficiaries over the months show that the initiative was making impacts in the people’s lives.
