The Minister of Solid Minerals Development and former Governor of Ekiti State, Dr Kayode Fayemi, has appealed to civil servants and the entire Ekiti populace to engage in farming to cushion the adverse effects of the unpaid salaries on their well-being.
The Minister spoke in Ado Ekiti on Monday while distributing food items to the civil servants , artisans, pregnant women and various groups at John Kayode Fayemi Leadership Centre in Ajilosun area of the state capital.
Those that benefited from the gesture, which nearly ended in stampede as people scrambled for the food items, include: civil servants, artisans, nursing mothers, physically challenged, Okada riders, students, among others.
The ex-governor, who was represented by the Director of the Centre, Mr Abiodun Omoleye, said the wind of hunger blowing in Ekiti presently calls for concern, advising that engaging in food production will help in stemming the level of famine in the land.
He clarified that the concept behind the programme was to help the poor citizens of the state to get on even in the face of the current hard-biting and suffocating economic situation, and not to score cheap political point owing to the inability of Governor Ayodele Fayose to pay salaries as at when due.
The chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who vowed to continue to help the poor masses in the state, urged other well-meaning Ekiti indigenes to join the fray to prevent hunger and starvation from killing the citizens.
“The wind of hunger blowing in Ekiti now is unpleasant. It seems hunger is gradually taking over the land and that is why we that are privileged must continue to identify with the poor. This has no political , ethnic or political colouration, but just a means of helping the needy.
“Taking cognizance of what is happening in Ekiti now when we are reading in the newspapers that some civil servants were stealing food on fire, our people must embrace farming as a way of life. Food production remains the best for now and nothing more.
“We must all rise up to save our state and the future of our children. Some can’t be living in opulence when some could not afford one square meal a day. This welfare programme is going to be a continuous one and we shall do it in a way that would have positive impact on the lives of our people at the community, ward and local government level,” he said.
The Minister added that Nigeria is presently in the era of change under a ‘focused and purposeful’ leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari, advising that people must key into all the programmes of the federal government by learning how to do things in different ways.
Fayemi said the centre will soon embark on leadership training for unemployed youths in the state while empowerment programmes will be initiated for artisans and other groups.
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