Engineer Seyi Makinde’s government in Oyo State has disclosed that it is working towards setting up employment scheme that will provide working opportunities to for repatriated Indigenes of the State.
The Chairman, Oyo State Road Transport Management Authority (OYRTMA), Mogaji (Dr.) Akin Fagbemi disclosed this after a meeting he had with the Senior Special Adviser to the State governor, Seyi Makinde on Diaspora Affairs, Hon. Bolanle Sarumi-Aliyu on Tuesday afternoon.
Mogaji said discussions at the meeting centered on how the department of Diaspora Affairs could effectively partner OYRTMA in the area of providing opportunities for Oyo State indigenes who for one reason or the other have to return home from several parts of the world, where some have been subjected to various degrees of inhuman conditions or harsh and hostile work environments.
Dr. Fagbemi while commending the SSA on what he called her laudable initiatives, reiterated the commitment of the Governor Seyi Makinde-led administration to the welfare of the good people of Oyo State at home and abroad.
“It is important we appreciate our leader and Governor, Engr. Seyi Makinde for putting the people of Oyo State first in all his directives, policies and governance model, secondly, I must personally commend you, the SSA, for the tremendous job you have been doing since your nascent appointment by the governor, particularly in seeing to the repatriation of stranded and oftentimes helpless sons and daughters of Oyo State.
“On our part, we are ready to join with you to make live easier for the returnees, we shall create a special arrangement and training for those of them you recommend and subsequently co-opt them into our ‘OYRTMA Mayor Scheme’ so as to enable them earn a living through government-provided-stipends whilst contributing significantly to the economic growth of the State by ensuring free flow of human and vehicular traffic across the State.
“In addition, this would help take them off the street as they struggle to reintegrate back into the contemporary Nigerian society, it would reduce crime rate as it remains a known fact that an unemployed individual is a reserved soldier for destruction,” he noted.
It would be recalled that Hon. Bolanle Sarumi had upon her appointment by Governor Makinde, paid a courtesy call on the OYRTMA boss on 30th April, 2020 to explore possible areas of collaboration to foster development through inter-agency support.
In her words, Hon. Bolanle Sarumi appreciated the collaborative gesture of the OYRTMA boss, saying the scheme would serve as an opportunity for the young repatriated indigenes of the State to be useful for themselves and the society.
“This scheme will serve two main purposes, one is the pride the individual will have to serve the society for greater purpose and the most important being the opportunity to have something doing in the interim.
“It is a sign of better things to come for the youths of Oyo State, they have seen that the present administration has been doing everything in its programmes, policies and actions to favor the youths and the less privileged in the society.”
Meanwhile the State Road Transport Management Agency (OYRTMA) has called on motorists to apply caution while going about their journeys during the Sallah period.
Dr Akin Fagbemi said officials of his agency would be on all major roads to maintain routine traffic regulations during and after the Sallah celebration.
Packaged by Kunle Gazali
