Council commissions projects, distributes poverty alleviation materials in Ibadan

THE new headquarters of Ibadan South West Local Government Area of Oyo State, at Aleshinloye area of Ibadan, recently witnessed a large turn-out of people when the caretaker chairman of the council, Mr Taoreed Bolaji Adeleke, commissioned some community development projects.The council chairman, joined by other staff of the local government, politicians, traditional chiefs, community leaders, eminent citizens of the state, as well as Oyo State government officials, also distributed poverty alleviation materials to many people in his constituency.The poverty alleviation materials, according to Adeleke, were part of his political promises to them and executed under the Local Government Empowerment Programmes (LGEP).Addressing the crowd, including the wife of the state governor, Chief (Mrs) Florence Ajimobi, Adeleke disclosed that the journey of one year in the life of Ibadan South-West Local Government administration was quite eventful and challenging in a bid to make people of the council feel and enjoy the dividends of democracy.'The first challenge was to meet up with the speed and standard set for local government functionaries by the state governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, in eradicating poverty in the local government. Part of that mandate is being fulfilled today with the distribution of valuable items like deep freezers, grinding machines, hair dryers, vulcanising materials, etc, to professional groups, men and women, including the physically challenged,' he stated.The council boss however, tasked the Federal Government to create employment for the youths, stressing that the restiveness of youths, in certain parts of the country, was not well managed enough by the institutional framework, hence, the need for local government to address the yearnings of the youths.Adeleke said because of this lapses, the project became worthwhile in order to enable the youth to be occupied because an idle hand is the devil's workshop.His words, 'the local government would continue to mobilise and empower the youths in order to bring an overall development to the local government area. For our youths to acquire skills and relevant training programme, the local government vocational centre is being upgraded by both the state and local governments.'Adeleke said the cash gifts and grants had been introduced into the scheme to reduce the incidence of unemployment among the youths which he observed was growing at an alarming rate. He then appealed to the beneficiaries of the projects to make the best use of what he described as the unique opportunity by utilising both the grant and equipment in a meaningful way.
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