By Dipo Olowookere
Chairman of United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, Mr Tony Elumelu, has donated the sum of N500 million to boost the wealth creation programmes of Delta State Governor, Mr Ifeanyi Okowa.
According to Mr Elumelu, who announced the donation yesterday, the fund would be provided by the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF), UBA group, Heirs Holdings, Transcorp, among others.
The serial entrepreneur, who led some beneficiaries of TEF on courtesy call to Governor Okowa at the Government House in Asaba, expressed joy that within three years of being in office, the administration has impacted a lot on the lives of the people both in terms of provision of infrastructure and encouraging the jobless to be wealth creators through different skill acquisition and entrepreneurship programmes of the administration.
“This is homecoming for me, I want to thank the Governor for everything he is doing in our state, there is a lot of improvement and from the airport to this place (Government House), we have seen a lot of projects,” he said, adding, “we are happy that within these few years, you have programmes where the beneficiaries have become employers of labour, we are going to create specific programme in Delta State and we are committing the sum of N500 million to the programme, the money will be from the Foundation, the UBA group, Heirs Holdings, Transcorp, among others.”
In his remarks, Mr Okowa commended Mr Elumelu, who has empowered a lot of Africans through his foundation, disclosing that his administration has created a lot of entrepreneurs through different skill acquisition and empowerment programmes.
According to Governor Okowa, the federal government should emphasise the need for Nigerian youths to go beyond acquisition of education certificates to include the acquisition of relevant skills that will enable them to be self employed.
“We must be looking seriously at technical education to enable our children acquire relevant skills, as a government, we are changing the narrative when it comes to empowerment programmes, empowerment in our state has gone beyond just buying items for the people, but requires equipping the people with relevant skills that will enable them contribute to the growth of the society,” he said.
He emphasised that it was important for the well-to-do individuals in the society to also, assist the poor in the society, asserting, “assisting those who cannot help themselves in the society is the way to go for us to have a better nation.”
