In a bid to strengthen cooperative societies in Ekiti state for better operations and boost economic prosperity of the state, Governor Biodun Oyebanji, has pledged to inject a whopping sum of N1 billion into the system.
The governor also disclosed that his administration will soon reach a robust conclusion with the leaders of Organised Labour on the implementation of a new Living Wage for all civil servants in the state to make lives better for them.
He declared the readiness of his government to release a sum of N500 million, while the same amount will be sourced from an interested financial institution in order to raise the benchmark to a billion naira thereby fortifying the operations of cooperative societies .
Oyebanji spoke at a ceremony marking the 2023 Cooperatives’ Day, held at the Ekiti Parapo Pavilion, Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital.
Addressing various cooperative societies members who were at the event, the governor promised to involve the cooperative members in the running of all government’s economic activities to promote investments in Ekiti.
He further assured the civil servants of regular payment of salary deductions to strengthen and ensure a hitch-free running of all cooperative societies in the civil service.
“You sent me a job with your votes in 2022, and part of the job is to make lives better for you. Cooperative societies are good and strategic for economic prosperity. In advanced nations like India and China, they are the ones that are helping the government, trade and economy to move forward.
“We have reached out to financial institutions for partnership, but they locked their doors against us because our people were indebted to them. Because of this, many have not been able to access loans in banks.
“By January, we will look for N500 million to inject into our corporate societies. We will add another N500m sourced from the bank to make it N1 billion and this will happen by the end of January, when I will distribute cheques to you. Get me correctly, it is a bank that will add that N500m, we will look for that bank ‘’ he said.
