The Gombe State Governor Muhammadu Yahaya has presented over 60,000 empowerment items to 2000 beneficiaries.
The gesture is part of Governor Yahaya administration’s broader goal of addressing the human capital deficit in the State.
The beneficiaries consist of 200 tea and noodles sellers, 200 rice cake sellers, 200, bean cake sellers and 200 Soya Beans cake sellers and 200 people with special needs.
Another 500 members of the Sickle Cell Group, as well as members of the Nigerian Automatic Technician Association, NATA and Gombe Automobile and Allied Technicians Association of Nigeria GATAN, are among the beneficiaries.
Flagging off the Phase II of the empowerment programme, in Gombe, Governor Yahaya said his administration placed a high priority on human capital development, because of the central role it was playing in the overall development of the society.
He said, “My administration is determined to continue taking holistic development steps to improve the lives of the people by creating employment and income-generating opportunities.”
The Governor said, “the 2000 beneficiaries in the second phase of the empowerment programme were selected from across five categories of small business, trade and artisan and associations.”
“Today, we are supporting a total of 2000 traders, mostly women,” he said.
Governor Yahaya said his administration had touched the lives of over 10,000 citizens across the state, projecting that more than 100,000 citizens would indirectly benefit from the direct multicultural interventions.
He said; “Through the collective multiplier effects of these interventions, more than 100,000 citizens will indirectly benefit from these programmes.”
The Governor unveiled the plan to empower additional 25 associations while urging the beneficiaries to make good use of the items and consider the gesture as an opportunity to achieve financial independence and help their families, contemporaries and the larger society.
Call to vote APC
Governor Yahaya called on the people to vote for the All Progressives Congress in the forthcoming elections for sustainable development and long-term prosperity.
Meanwhile, the Governor’s wife, Dr Asma’u Yahaya, thanked her husband for creating pro-women policies and programmes aimed at addressing the plight of vulnerable groups, through meaningful intervention to make them self-reliant.
“Thank you, your Excellency, for accepting to share the beneficiaries of today’s programme 50/50 between men and women as it has never happened in any of the previous administrations in the state,” she noted.
Dr Yahaya urged the beneficiaries to use the items for the intended purpose.
“Please I beg you, do not sell out any of the items that will be given to you. They are meant to support you and your families,” she said.
The Special Adviser to the Governor on Human Capital Development, Mr Sani Haruna, commended him for providing formidable platforms for the training of youths, women and other vulnerable groups.
He explained that the second phase of the empowerment programme was a consolidation of the ongoing human capital development initiatives, stressing that all the programmes would be run concurrently.
Over 60, 000 items distributed were sugar packs, packs of noodles, crates of eggs, takeaway packs, gas cylinders, rice, frying pans, beans, soya beans, flour, cooking oil, mechanical sets, Drugs for people living with Sickle Cell Anemia, among others.
Responding to the gesture, some of the beneficiaries, the Chairman, of the National Association of Blinds Gombe State chapter, Dr Ishiyaku Adamu, Chairman of Sickle Cell Club, Ibrahim Musa, Secretary of Tea and Noodles Sellers Association, Abdu Gadam and other representatives, commended the Governor’s vision in empowering the less privileged and the vulnerable groups of the society.
Mercy Chukwudiebere
