The Chief of Staff to Governor Godwin Obaseki, Mr. Taiwo Akerele, has said contrary to talks that his boss is stingy, Obaseki is generous and deals with the needy directly.
He told Vanguard yesterday that not less than N200 million was spent last year through the Empathy Fund to provide financial assistance to different residents in the state without meeting them physically.
Obaseki is the most generous Governor in terms of attending to citizens’ need. He said: “It is based on lack of information on the part of those who believe that the governor is not open handed, that he is not very free with resources. “He has adopted a two pronged approach to addressing the issue of poverty in Edo state where he is investing in infrastructure which has direct impact on the people, improving the quality of life of the people.
Then the second approach is what people generally call stomach infrastructure, the governor has spent millions of naira in addressing directly key challenges being faced by individuals in Edo state.
“People write from all the local government areas. People who are in the hospitals and are stranded, people who need to pay school fees of children and several others have been helped. They write every now and then and I have thousands of such letters that the governor has asked us to handle.
Last year alone, we spent over N200 million assisting indigent people in Edo state. “If the people who have not been directly impacted are not patient enough for their turn, they should not accuse the governor of tight handedness.”
