Lawmaker Charges Women to Embrace Savings Culture, Unveils Empowerment Scheme

Kemi Olaitan

A member of the House of Representatives representing Egbeda/ Ona Ara Federal Constituency of Oyo State, Hon. Akin Alabi, has called on women in the country most especially those in the rural areas, to cultivate a savings and investment culture for them to be well-positioned to support their families.

Alabi, who is the founder of NairaBet, a leading betting company in Nigeria, gave the admonition when he inaugurated a N250 million empowerment scheme for women in his constituency held at Isebo area of Ibadan, the Oyo state capital.

According to him, it is important for women as role models for their children to focus more on what would elevate their financial status rather than engaging on unnecessary consumption, in order to have what he described as stable financial health.

He said women should be more prudent with resources available to them and avoid excessive display of wealth, stating that it was their duty to make right choices so as to build a lasting legacy for their children.

The Chairman, House Committee on Intergovernmental Affairs, said he would continue to give back to his constituent, assuring that he would not wait for the executive arm of government before providing succour to some of the problems facing them.

He disclosed that 250 women would benefit from the empowerment scheme as a start and would continue until the seed money of N250 million was exhausted.

“As much as we can, we don’t have a definite number, as much as our resources can accommodate, we are going to take care of them.

“Some people, it is not going to be on monetary basis, some is to assist them on their hospital bill, some are going to be trained for free.

“I am doing it for different reasons, and during the campaign, I met a lot of women during the campaign, they came out and voted for me.

“I see this as one of the ways to assist them. I don’t want to wait for the government, that is why I am doing it now. It is basically from my own pocket.

“I have special interest for the youth, some are looking for jobs, some need training, so we are going to do all our possible best to assist them. So, we are going to have different solutions to different people.

“We are doing this in order to formalise it. I believed spending N250 million on the people is not a big thing for me. The legislative arm of government has three major functions, law-making, constituency outreach and oversight. This is one of them. This is part of my constituency outreach. It is still part of my job as a lawmaker,” he said.