By Gbenga Sodeinde
The vulnerable and the less Privileged are usually neglected by several governments because they are actually the dregs of the society and do not have connections to those in high places and hide at the corridor of power.
They therefore suffer neglect from many governments who usually fail to fulfill several promises made to them.
Among these people are the people called Persons with disabilities who are equally not considered for appointments in many governments, or perhaps if at all they would considered for any official positions by any government, their appointments were usually done without choosing from any of them that could represent them adequately.
But in Fayemi’s government, the current and outgoing, things have been totally different for them, this particular group have had it so good, they have been given premium attention by the current administration of Dr Fayemi.
To start with, the outgoing Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi appointed a Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to Governor on Disability Affairs, Mr. Olatunde Ogunrinde, so that through his office, adequate attention could be given to the disabled.
Not only that, no fewer than four persons with disabilities were appointed by Fayemi to be members of boards in the State while one of them was even made chairman of a board in the State.
For instance, Mr. Akin Obanise was appointed chairman of the Board of the Ekiti State Agency For Disability Affairs from among the persons with disabilities in Ekiti.
To cap it all, as part of efforts to engage the vulnerable, unemployed and less -privileged youths in his Administration, Governor Fayemi in conjunction with the World Bank has commenced a programme tagged EKITI CARES -Labour intensive Public Works, an intensive Public Works programme where this particular group were also beneficiaries as they were made to benefit in this programme.
Though this programme was not particularly packaged for persons with disabilities but they were parts of the vulnerable groups who were enroled in the programme for special consideration.
This programme was put in place to empower the poor and the vulnerable Youths in Ekiti State.
Youths whose age falls within 18 – 50years, with secondary school education but not engaged in any meaningful employment, were captured in the Single Register of Ekiti State.
This is another giant stride by the Fayemi led administration to further eradicate unemployment and poverty in line with the Government’s promise to restore the values of better life for all and sundry.
Presently, 1,326 beneficiaries have been engaged, deployed to Labour Intensive Public Work sites across the 16 LGAs of Ekiti State and have started receiving salaries since April, 2022.
However, this will not be the end of the era that the state government will adequately care for Persons with disabilities.
Permit me to use the yoruba adage which says, ‘kese kese leri, kasa shi nbo.’ meaning that this is just the beginning of the good things to happen to the less -priviledged and persons with disabilities in the state.
With the activities, campaigns promises, and particularly the recent pronouncement of the Ekiti State Governor- elect, Hon. Biodun Oyebanji, who assured that his administration would not abandon the widows and vulnerable groups but they would enjoy great attention from his government in terms of engagements and development.
Specifically, Oyebanji revealed that the current administration of Governor Kayode Fayemi has given adequate attention to the less- privileged, promising that he would sustain this trend of development holistically.
The Governor-Elect said this recently in reaction to the accolades showered on him by a widow, Mrs. Alice Ogundipe, in Otun Ekiti, Moba Local Government, during his “thank you visit” to the Council.
Mrs. Ogundipe displayed an unusual placard at the gathering for people to know how Oyebanji came to her rescue when things were tough for her family.
She said: “My story is long but I will make it brief. I’m a widow and my soldier husband died serving Nigeria. I was connected with BAO three years ago by Mrs. Omope and Uncle Akin Rotimi, two important persons who God used to put a smile on my face again.
“Despite my predicament, I was still able to send my two children – Kolade and Korede to the Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti, from the little I was making from my small business.
“Then the unexpected happened; my children’s hostel at Iworoko got burnt leaving them with nothing.
“They even lost their certificates. That was how I met Mr. Akin Rotimi, who introduced me to Madam Omope, who later took me to BAO, who was then the SSG.
“To cut the long story short, from that moment, my situation changed for the better. BAO interviewed me and saw the need to put me and my two kids on monthly allowance. Since then, every first week of the month, Hon. Oyebanji has been giving me and my children monthly allowances”
Oyebanji said: “My administration won’t joke with taking care of widows, aged, orphans and other vulnerable groups , so that everybody can be comfortable. That is the essence of governance.
“I would also focus on socio- economic, industrial, infrastructure and human capital development. We are going to turn around our economy and also build our human capital potentials.”