...as over 400 beneficiaries get freezers, sewing machines, grinder
The Border Communities Development Agency (BCDA) has empowered no fewer than four hundred (400) youths and women in Etinan local government area of Akwa Ibom State.
The empowerment facilitated by Hon Bassey Etuk had beneficiaries smile home with items such as deep freezers, sewing machines and grinding machines.
Speaking during the event, an elder statesman and 1993 governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Arch. Ekong Etuk, while appreciating the federal government for the gesture, noted that the programme was meant to improve the economy of the beneficiaries.
Commending his nephew for heeding his advice to always remember where he came from, Arch. Etuk stressed that though he’s a party man, he ensured that beneficiaries were not selected based on political party affiliation.
He said “First of all, it is for Etinan local government area and we want to improve the economy of our people. We also want to ensure that as the federal government has agencies that do all kinds of things beneficial to the various communities, that we participate and partake as full citizens of Nigeria”.
Etuk further advised the beneficiaries to make good use of the items in a manner that would justify the essence of the agency and facilitator’s good intentions.
Speaking on behalf of BCDA, Mr. Amaebite Gabriel said: “From time to time, the agency sends its staff out to these border communities to do a kind of needs assessment. From the feedbacks, we know what each community needs.
They will now tell us if it is school, if it is hospital, or whatever it is. And, we will channel our our empowerment plans, items and projects in line with the needs as identified by the people”.
A cross section of the beneficiaries who were full of praises, while speaking to our Correspondent, thanked the Anchor person, Arch. Ekong Etuk for his fairness in coordinating the distribution of the items. They also commended the facilitator and BCDA for what some of them described as “timely intervention”.
