By Zika Bobby
Ekiti State Government has commenced its Youth Employment and Social Support Operation Public Work Fare (YESSO-PWF) programme with 876 youths selected from six councils in the state.
Speaking at the inauguration of the programme at the Ifaki Ekiti campus of the University of Ado Ekiti, Governor Ayodele Fayose said this is an intervention programme for unemployed youths as part of government’s social security scheme designed to assist in eradicating poverty in the society.
The governor, who spoke through the Secretary to the State Government, Dr. Modupe Alade, attributed the increase in youth restiveness and social vices to idleness, stressing that government would not relent in its efforts at ensuring security of lives and property. Expressing gratitude to the World Bank for partnering the state to engage some eligible youths in labour intensive activities for mºonthly stipends, Fayose said the first batch of beneficiaries was selected from a single register of poor and vulnerable households in six local government areas in the state.
He stressed that the focus was to provide employment opportunities for the targeted group in the state, adding that the beneficiaries were expected to realise substantial amount of money which they could invest in money-generating ventures that could help sustain them and their families.
The governor promised that he would ensure the sustainability of the programme as part of efforts at alleviating poverty and unemployment among youths.
In her remarks, Executive Secretary of the State Bureau of Productivity and Empowerment, Mrs. Juliet Boluwatife, said it was commendable that Fayose was the first governor to pay his state’s counterpart fund out of the eight benefitting states in the country.
Boluwatife described the engagement of youths between the ages of 18 and 35 years as a milestone in fighting poverty in the state.