Adebayo Adenrele
The recent mega empowerment programme launched by the Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele in Ekiti State has raised concerns over alleged mismanagement, poor maintenance and ineffective distribution of empowerment materials.
NEWSTODAYNG recalled that the lawmaker, representing Ekiti Central Senatorial District, flagged off the empowerment initiative on April 2, 2025, distributing items reportedly worth billions of naira to thousands of constituents.
The initiative, tagged “Renewed Hope Mega Empowerment for Ekiti Central Senatorial District”, was designed to benefit over 5,000 residents across five local government areas which include: Ijero, Efon, Ekiti West, Ado-Ekiti, and Irepodun/Ifelodun.
Items distributed during the programme included minibuses, motorcycles, tricycles, freezers, ambulances, gas cylinders, cookers, cooking pots, generators, sewing machines, pepper and cassava grinding machines, wheelchairs, hair dryers, makeup boxes, wheelbarrows, cutlasses, hoes, tractors, lawn mowers, land tillers, educational materials, among others.
However, an investigation by NEWSTODAYNG revealed that several of these items were either not properly distributed, just two months after the event.
Findings showed that more than 30 tricycles, as well as some minibuses, were allegedly kept hidden in a muddy environment within the premises of the Textile Office along Bashiri Road in Ado-Ekiti, with equipment surrounded by trucks and heaps of crates in an apparent attempt to hide them.
Some of the tricycles observed by our reporter were found in poor condition with punctured tyres, damaged bodies and signs of prolonged abandonment, raising concerns about whether the intended beneficiaries will ever receive them.
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