By Ighomuaye Lucky. O
With the strong will to make life worthwhile for the people of the state and boost the Edo State Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the Hon. member representing Oredo West constituency at the state House of Assembly, Dr. Richard Edosa has empowered members of his constituency with 30 generator sets and 30 grounding machines, respectively.
Presenting the items to the beneficiaries in Benin City, Dr. Edosa said that the importance of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises can never be overemphasized in the nation’s economic, stressing that those who are the drivers of this process have to be kept actively in their businesses so that they can contribute their quota.
“The reason behind what we are doing is because we have this understanding that Small and Medium-scale businesses are the power house that drives the economy of any community or any state.
“Therefore, empowering this Small and Medium-scale business is directly empowering or increasing our economic performance in our community, in our state.
“The role that Small and Medium scale businesses play in the development of our economy cannot be over emphasized.
“Based on this idea, we decided to empower them because as they make money, they increase revenue for themselves and also revenue for our state.
“An increased revenue for state is the dream and the drive of any good government. And that is the idea behind what we are doing today. We have given out a number of grinding machines.
“We have given out a number of power generating sets, commonly known as generators to people that own Small Scale and Medium Scale businesses in Oredo West.
“So, we believe this will boost their performances. This will increase revenue for them and for our state”, Edosa said.
The lawmaker said the beneficiaries of the empowerment exercise were highly profiled with the view of ensuring that those selected for the programme were only those who deserve the items being distributed.
He also said that the selections for the programme cuts across political divides.
“The beneficiaries here extend beyond political divides. I sent people into the markets to profile them according to their needs not according to the party they belong because I am a member representing Oredo West and Oredo West consists of all political parties.
“They are all business women, businessmen, artisans, politicians, and technocrats. So the selection criteria is based on the need of these individual persons.
“For instance, somebody who sells pepper, tomato and onion yet does not have machine to grind, we will choose as one.
“Another criteria is, this person has the machine, but it is giving the person a serious problem to run that machine. The person is spending more money maintaining the machine, then he can’t profit from that machine. We also consider such persons. For some who are operating barbering salon and they don’t have good generators or generating sets, we also consider them.
“Men and women who sell pure water, soft drinks, who also need to cool their drinks, we also considered them. Are you getting what I’m saying now? So this is how we profile them. And then because the number of persons coming for this gift or empowerment far outweighs the number of materials we are supplying, we have to make it like a raffle draw.
“So that there will be fairness, there will be equity, and everybody will be happy and transparency was the order of the day”, Edosa added.
Commending the donor for his kind gestures, one of the beneficiaries, Mrs. Ebere Ebhodaghe who went home with a generator set, said she never expected that she will be among the lucky ones but as fate might have it, that she was selected.
She prayed that God should continue to bless the donor.
Another beneficiary, Mr. Joseph Ikhile said that he feels so happy to have also been given a generator set stressing that it will help to run his business better and contribute to the wellbeing of his family through the profits he is going to make from his business.
