No fewer than 200 residents of Ilorin West/Asa Federal Constituency in Kwara State have benefited from an empowerment scheme featuring the distribution of solar home systems, commercial tricycles, motorcycles, and grinding machines, alongside financial support.
The intervention was facilitated by the lawmaker representing the constituency in the House of Representatives, Muktar Tolani Shagaya, in collaboration with the Federal College of Agricultural Produce Technology, Kano, and Ahuraka Nigeria Limited.
The distribution exercise, which took place at the lawmaker’s constituency office along Eid Road, Ilorin on Saturday, also provided selected beneficiaries with cash grants to establish or boost small-scale enterprises.
According to the organizers, the beneficiaries were selected without bias, cutting across politically affiliated individuals and non-partisan residents of the federal constituency.
Speaking at the event, Shagaya appreciated the community members, party leaders, and political stakeholders for their continuous support.
“I urged you all to maintain your alignment with our party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and support all our candidates in the upcoming elections, including my re-election bid for the House of Representatives.” He added.
In his goodwill message, the APC Chairman for Ilorin West Local Government, Alhaji Sulaimon Tejidini called on residents to remain steadfast with the ruling party to attract further development projects to the constituency.
Also speaking, the Senior Special Assistant on Women Mobilisation to Kwara Governor, Hon. Monsurat Abimbola Amoke commended the active involvement of women in the constituency’s political process and solicited their vote for APC flagbearers.
Similarly, member representing Afon State Constituency in the Kwara State House of Assembly, Yunus Bello Oniboki assured party leaders of his constituents’ unalloyed support in future elections.
Delivering an exhortation, an Islamic scholar, Sheikh Sulaimon Soyibul Bayan urged participants to deepen their faith and practice communal generosity, emphasizing the importance of catering to family members and the vulnerable.
One of the beneficiaries, Samuel Bolatito Christiana, who received a commercial grinding machine commended the lawmaker for the gesture, noting that the equipment would provide a sustainable source of income to support her family.
The empowerment programme, designed to enhance self-reliance, also aims to address energy poverty by providing solar-powered solutions to off-grid communities within the constituency.