From Timothy Olanrewaju, Maiduguri
Yobe State government has introduced measures to curb diversion, sales and misuse of empowerment support given to its citizens to create employment and alleviate poverty.
Commissioner for Wealth Creation, Empowerment and Employment Generation, Alhaji Yerima Bularafa, disclosed this during an interview with Saturday Sun in Damaturu, the state capital, in response to reports of abuse of empowerment and poverty reduction support.
According to him, “We have introduced a monitoring and evaluating unit with a team of personnel to ensure these abuses do not continue. We cannot give 100 per cent assurance that all beneficiaries use the empowerment support from the government for the purposes they were meant to serve.”
Bularafa stated that some beneficiaries of tricycles, rickshaws, sewing and welding machines, and others reportedly abused the empowerment items.
According to him, 500 tricycles were given to youth for economic engagement. He added that the government recently purchased and distributed 100 cars to commercial drivers for intra and inter-state shuttles.
The intervention, he explained, was done in collaboration with the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) in the state to ensure the right persons benefit from the programme. He said the cars were given on a 50 per cent soft loan basis, payable within two years.
He said more skill acquisition programmes on leather works and welding were underway to complement the recent training of 850 youth in the state.