Gov Umahi flags off empowerment programs for 12,000 workers ; youths.

The Governor of Ebonyi State, Engr. David Nweze Umahi, has flagged off his administration's  empowerment programmes for civil servants   and youths in the state. 

The beneficiaries of the first phase of the programmes  comprise  8,000 civil servants  and 4,000 youths. 

 

At the ceremony which held at the Abakaliki Township Stadium in Abakaliki, the  governor  noted that a lot of people keyed into the programmes and  expressed his gratitude to them for believing in the initiatives aimed at boosting food production in the state and economic potential  of the people.

While he explained that no amount of money would be enough to satisfy the yearnings of the people  in time of economic recession,    Umahi   advised those  profiled for  the schemes  to properly utilise the funds  in order to increase their income. 

The governor, according to a statement on Wednesday by his Chief Press Secretary, Emma Anya, said,  "I'm very convinced that God wants to use Ebonyi State to set example for the project of Nigeria. 

"The speed and the spirit at which our civil servants have demonstrated in support of this programme can be nothing other than divine. I've said that no governor and nobody in the kind of society we are now can permanently please  all the civil servants. It is not possible.

"It is the fault of the situation we've all found ourselves but we offer you an opportunity to change our world and better our days." 

The governor, who   announced that Thursdays and Fridays had been declared work-free days for participants to enable them go to their farms, stressed  that opportunities abound in agriculture, especially in the areas  of fishery,   rice  and  cassava cultivations.

    "Some people may not  have full understanding of what we are about to begin but go and talk to those that benefitted from FADAMA III last year. Talk to those that benefitted from IFAD last year. If 6,000 plus got N4 billion into their coffers within four months, then  find out whether we are  joking," he said. 

To prove that his government was prepared to make the programmes a success, he added, "Mondays, Tuesdays  and Wednesdays will be working days  only for those who are participating in this programme but then Thursdays, Fridays  and  Saturdays, the civil servants  participating will be expected to be absent from their work places so that they can   go to  their farms and do their work."

 

The governor later distributed symbolic cheques to some beneficiaries of the empowerment programmes.
Contributing, the  Deputy Governor and Chairman of the Empowerment programmes, Dr. Eric Kelechi Igwe, emphasized that the schemes  were  in fulfillment of Governor Umahi's promise to prosper the people.

In their separate remarks, the Commissioner for Economic Empowerment and Job Creation, Chief Donatus Njoku and the State Head of Service, Dr. Chamberlain Nwele as well as the State Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Ikechukwu Nwafor appreciated  Umahi for his commitment towards the welfare of the people.