Lawmaker’s Empowerment Scheme To Benefit 1,300

More than 1,320 constituents of Andoni State Constituency are to benefit from the 2018 empowerment progrmme by the lawmaker representing Andoni State Constituency and Speaker, Rivers State House of Assembly (RVHA), Rt. Hon Ikuinyi-Owaji Ibani.
Rt Hon Ibani disclosed this at the weekend in a meeting with some stakeholders from the constituency in Port Harcourt.
According to him, over 110 persons have already benefitted from the programme in January and February 2018 comprising 10 persons from each of the 11 wards of the constituency.
He said beneficiaries would be receiving between N10,000.00 and N50,000.00 monthly to assist young unemployed men and women in the constituency.
He also said that not everyone would be given cash as those who have already undergone skill acquisition training under the programme would be assisted with materials to start off their own businesses.
The speaker said the gesture was part of his electioneering campaign promises to the constituents during the 2015 election in the area.
He advised the stakeholders, who were drawn from various wards of the constituency not to politicise the process of selecting the beneficiaries, but to ensure that the right and genuine people were shortlisted to benefit from the programme, irrespective of party affiliation.
Rt Hon Ibani said the programme was a continuous one as long as he remained the lawmaker representing the area in the state House of Assembly and called on the beneficiaries to make good use of the opportunity to empower themselves economically.
The speaker stressed that the gesture was to assist the government to reduce unemployment and youth restiveness in the area.
Speaking with The Tide, the Secretary, Greater Port Harcourt City Development Authority (GPHDA), Barr. Erastus Awortu commended the speaker for the programme, saying that the empowerment scheme would go a long way to reduce poverty among the youths and elderly men and women in the area.
Awortu urged others in position of thrusts to borrow a leaf in assisting government to empower youths in the face of the harsh economic condition in the country.

Enoch Epelle