Fourteen thousand (14,000) elderly citizens in Ekiti State have been paid N20,000 each under the re-launched Fayemi-led administration’s Social Security Scheme, popularly referred to as ‘Owo Arugbo’(stipends for the elderly).
Speaking on Tuesday at Ode-Ekiti in Gboyin Local Government Area of the State, during the official presentation of the Automated Teller Machine (ATM) credit cards to the beneficiaries, the Director-General of Bureau for Employment, Labour and Productivity, Mr. Lanre Ogunjobi explained that the disbursement was for the 4th quarter (October toDecember) of year 2019.
Mr. Ogunjobi, who recalled that Governor Fayemi, during his first tenure, introduced the payment of stipends to vulnerable elderly people in the state from the age of 65years and above, expressed regret that the laudable programme was abandoned for four years by the immediate past administration.
Stressing that the programme is devoid of political colouration, Ogunjobi said that beneficiaries were identified from the Single Register of Poor and Vulnerable Households that was created from a survey of communities across the 16 Local Government Areas of the state, using internationally accepted standards of poverty indices.
He added that the programme which is being executed under Social Investments in the 5-pillars of the Fayemi-led administration, is a reflection of the commitment of the administration to the welfare of all levels of people in the state, particularly the elderly, women and children, who constitute the most vulnerable in the society.
Ogunjobi advised the beneficiaries to spend the money judiciously, emphasizing the importance of taking proper care of their ATM cards and disallowing people they do not trust from handling the cards to prevent being defrauded.
In his remarks, the Permanent Secretary in the Bureau of Labour and Productivity, Mr. Ayodele Ajimati, described the Scheme as a “systemic cure for poverty” and advised other states to emulate the laudable programme.
Ajimati stressed that the success of the programme in the state was an indication that the Scheme is capable of assisting in improving the lives of vulnerable people across the country if properly emulated.
