.First Lady Hails Oyebanji’s Support for Empowerment Project
Another 200 trainees of Adire Ekiti fabrics production have been empowered with start-up kits to commence their trade with an assurance of more opportunities to access grants to boost the enterprise.
Wife of Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Olayemi Oyebanji, who distributed the empowerment materials to the 200 trainees from Ekiti South Senatorial District who have completed their training at the Adire Ekiti Hub urged them to utilize the opportunity to build a flourishing business enterprise.
At the empowerment ceremony held on Tuesday at the Adire Ekiti Hub along Iworoko Road in Ado Ekiti, each of the beneficiaries received a start-up pack containing clothing materials, wax, chemicals, dye and a sum of N25,000 to assist them in commencing production on their own and a certificate of completion.
Dr. Oyebanji who charged the Adire Ekiti training beneficiaries to effectively utilize the social media to showcase and market their products stressed that Adire has become a universal attire that is accepted and worn all over the world.
This, she said, is capable of opening doors of economic creativity, creating burgeoning market and stimulate demand from all parts of Nigeria and overseas for the practitioners of Adire trade who are increasing in number in Ekiti which she said is already becoming a destination of choice for the sale of the fabrics.
The First Lady used the opportunity of the forum to shower encomium on her husband, Governor Biodun Oyebanji, for being a pillar of support for the Adire Ekiti project stressing that the project was personally sponsored by him without commiting state funds to the venture.
Dr. Oyebanji said her husband is passionate about the Adire Ekiti project and is ever ready to keep the initiative going to ensure that more citizens of the state are empowered with skills and taken off the labour market to contribute to the economy in the grassroots.
She said: “If you have an idea or a vision and there is nobody to run the vision with or support you, the vision will just die. I want to appreciate my darling husband, the Governor, for his support for this project since we started with beneficiaries from Ekiti Central and now with those from Ekiti South.
“It takes a Governor who has compassion for his people. My husband said the WAOH Project is for intervention in the lives of widows and orphans while Adire Ekiti project is for productivity. Life is about impact and that is what Governor BAO is doing.
“If the Governor can do this for you (beneficiaries), then you must justify the resources spent on training and these empowerment materials. I want to commend you trainees from Ekiti South, your works stand you out.
“Showcase your works on social media and people will patronize you. Display and advertise your products on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok. Convert the social media to an advantage for your business rather than wasting your data on unproductive ventures.”
The Deputy Governor, Chief (Mrs.) Monisade Afuye, said things are taking positive shape under the Oyebanji Administration in Ekiti State commending the foresight of the first couple in the state in coming up with the Adire Ekiti and going ahead to bankroll it.
Mrs. Afuye said hundreds of Ekiti youths have benefitted from the milk of kindness of the Governor and his wife noting that the empowerment project is having multiplier effects on families and communities in the state.
The Deputy Governor urged the people of Ekiti to allow the good works under her boss to continue crediting the Governor with the feat of turning the Land of Honour to a centre of enterprise and entrepreneurship in Nigeria.
Commissioner for Special Duties, Otunba Dolamu Adeniyi, described the office of Ekiti First Lady as one of the busiest of its kind in Nigeria and a beehive of activities, generosity and kindness hailing the Governor and his wife for being keepers of promises.
He added that Governor Oyebanji has brought life to Ekiti and the people have seen governance in a different way especially in touching their personal welfare urging them to keep the good works going.
Chairman of the state chapter of Association of Local Governments in Nigeria (ALGON), Hon. Segun Ojo, congratulated the beneficiaries whom he said have been given an opportunity to become the chief executive officers of their businesses.
Hon. Ojo, who is also the Chairman of Ekiti East Local Government, said creation of job opportunities and productivity has being done with Adire Ekiti, is an effective and potent way of defeating poverty which he described as a global problem.
Earlier in her welcome address, the Director General of Adire Ekiti Hub, Dr. Abimbola Oni, said it was fulfilling to successfully train two batches of 400 trainees from Ekiti Central and Ekiti South noting that Ekiti North is billed to produce the next set of trainees.
One of the beneficiaries, Temitope Ale, appreciated the First Lady for giving them the platform of economic empowerment promising to justify the investment in their human capital to make impact in their localities and the state as a whole.