…don’t sell the items, it’s your golden goose – Senator Ekpenyong

By Ike Uchechukwu CALABAR

Senator Asuquo Ekpenyong,has empowered about 1,000 constituents in Cross River South Senatorial District with tricycles, minibuses, N250,000 startup grants and skills training programmes.

Ekpenyong, Chairman of the National Assembly Committee on Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC
who represents the district, made the disclosure at the weekend during the flag-off of the empowerment scheme in Calabar, describing it as a complementary effort to the works of President Bola Tinubu and Governor Bassey Otu.

A break down of the scheme showed that 500 persons from the Seven Local government were given 250,000 business grant, while 200 others went home with brand new Tricycles and another 150 others were handed over mini buses with both categories of beneficiaries also going home with 100,000 naira as start up grants

The senator explained that the initiative, targeting young men and women, was facilitated by federal agencies including NDDC and the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN).

“All this that we are doing is just to complement the efforts and the wonderful works of His Excellency, Senator Prince Bassey Otu,” Ekpenyong said.

He listed the benefits to include skills acquisition training, business startup grants and provision of capital items such as minibuses and tricycles (kekanapep).

“Because I didn’t do this by myself, it was done by MDAs at the federal level.

“We have been able to source these capital items for our constituents here in the South-East Senatorial District,” he added.

Ekpenyong urged beneficiaries not to sell the items, warning: “Do not kill the goose that will lay the golden egg. Maintain that goose and keep extracting the golden egg every morning.”

He described the event as “the beginning of several empowerment programmes that we will continue to do, all made possible by the President, by the Governor, and the various leaders that we have in this country.”

The lawmaker appealed for continued support for President Bola Tinubu ahead of future elections, stressing that the President “has made this possible and will make a lot more possible in our wonderful state.”