Ekiti State Commissioner for Labour, Employment and Human Capital Development, Mr. Oluwole Ariyo has assured that all indigent people above 65years old will be captured under the Social Security Scheme initiated by the Fayemi led administration where 19,270 elderly citizens currently receive a monthly stipend of Five Thousand Naira each.
Mr. Ariyo who gave this assurance while monitoring payment to beneficiaries in Ikere-Ekiti, expressed satisfaction with the level of success of the programme which is the first of its kind in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Mr. Ariyo who was represented by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Mrs. Funmilayo Ajayi said that government would continuously review the list of beneficiaries in order to capture all qualified elderly people in the scheme as well as expunge the names of those who passed on.
He therefore called on all indigent people above 65 years that are yet to key into the programme to register as soon as possible in order to make their lives more meaningful.
Reiterating the administration’s zero tolerance for fraud, Mr. Ariyo said that the scheme was designed to be fraud-proof, adding that the beneficiaries were thoroughly screened before qualification.
Meanwhile, senior citizens in the state have continued to shower encomium on the Fayemi led administration for initiating the laudable programme.
80 year old Mrs. Esther Adekola who spoke on behalf of other beneficiaries in Ikere Ekiti expressed gratitude to Governor Fayemi for what she described as giving hope to the hopeless elderly people.
Mrs Adekola said the five thousand Naira monthly stipends the government gives to each indigent elder in the state has positively changed their lives, adding that it actually wiped their tears.
At Ilasa Ekiti in Ekiti East Local Government Area, one of the beneficiaries, Chief Daniel Oke Akinyemi who also expressed appreciation to the state government for initiating the scheme, said that the elderly people would continue to pray for the actualization of the second term bid of the Governor.
Last modified: March 10, 2013