Kamarudeen Ogundele, Ado Ekiti
"Civil servants, students and artisans among others on Monday scrambled to have a share of food items shared by former Governor Kayode Fayemi in Ado Ekiti.
The food items shared included rice, spaghetti, indomie, salt, sugar and condiments. Workers in the state are owed five months salaries by the state government.
Speaking while sharing the items, Fayemi, now a Minister of Solid Minerals Development, appealed to the people to embrace farming.
Represented at the event by the Director of the John Kayode Fayemi Leadership Centre, Mr. Abiodun Omoleye, the former governor said the hunger in Ekiti called for concerns.
Saying the concept behind the programme was to help the poor citizens, he urged other well-meaning Ekiti indigenes to join in the efforts 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 still 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.”
The Minister added that Nigeria was presently in the era of change under a ‘focused and purposeful’ leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari. He advised 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 would soon embark on leadership training for unemployed youth in the state while empowerment programmes would be initiated for artisans and other groups."
Culled from Punch
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