Fayemi doles out N360m to 24 Ekiti communities

Ekiti State Governor Dr Kayode Fayemi on Tuesday distributed cheques worth N360 million to 24 communities in the state as part of efforts to cushion the effect of Covid-19 pandemic on the poor and vulnerable as well as ensure reduction of poverty to the barest minimum in the state.

Dr Fayemi, who presented the cheques to representatives of the communities at the Oshuntokun Hall, Government House, Ado-Ekiti, said the fund would focus on three specific areas: education, healthcare services, water and sanitation.

The governor stated that any government that is able to cover these three critical areas would have gone a long way at reducing poverty to its barest minimum, adding that the fund was in fulfilment of his promise and commitment to ensuring that every community in the state get a taste of the administration’s development agenda. He said government was poised to continue to make meaningful impacts in the lives of the people.

According to the governor, Ekiti State Covid Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (Ekiti CARES) programme was the aftermath of how the state was looking at ways to alleviate the effect of Covid-19 pandemic on the socio-economic wellbeing of the people and support government intervention at the state level targeting existing and newly vulnerable and poor households like farmers, artisans and micro and small scale enterprises affected by the economic crises occasioned by the pandemic.

He stated that it was important to continue to invest in the people by promoting local ownership of projects, adding that when the people are allowed to build their own projects, they tend to also protect them because they see them as their own projects rather than government projects.

Projects to be implemented by the communities includes construction renovation of basic health centres, blocks of classrooms and provision of water from motorized boreholes among others.