Over fifty unemployed youths in the Oshodi-Isolo area of Lagos State were beneficiaries of cash grants to enable them start a small medium business.

The grant provided by a member of the House of Representatives representing Oshodi-Isolo Constituency one, Bashiru Dawodu, was supported by Small Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria.

According to Doctor Dawodu, the empowerment of constituents was in fulfilment of his campaign promises to his constituents to help improve their social and economic well-being.

Addressing the beneficiaries during the presentation of the grants, he says the gesture is one of his many programmes planned to help the people in the constituency especially those in dire need.

He urged the beneficiaries to put the grants into good use in order to better their lives and households.

Dawodu promised to go all out in term of making the lives of the people better and attracting Federal Government projects to the constituency in order to make life easier and meaningful for the people.

He further reinstated his commitment to the people, he promised them of a better Oshodi-Isolo that will reflect the wishes of the people and a place we will all be proud to be called a home.

According to him, the essence of governance was to impact on the lives on the people, and urged elected officials to always live to that expectation.

He said it was wrong for public officials not to impact on the lives of people after getting their votes, calling on citizens to always insist on dividends of democracy from their leaders.

In his words, millions of naira was disbursed to the beneficiaries as seed capital to engage in various productive ventures.

The Lawmaker who spoke through his Special Assistant, Olamilekan Ogunkoya says the selection processes was apolitical, since he represented all in the House of Representatives.

Representatives from Small Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria, Olusola Oluwole says the agency had the trained several youths with the aim of addressing youth unemployment in states.

According to her, the programme provided skills and knowledge for the teeming youths to enable them become self-reliant and economically independent particularly in the area of information communication technology.

She noted the importance of ICT to the MSMEs sector of the economy, hence the decision of SMEDAN to inculcate the spirit of ICT into entrepreneurs in the country.

The leader of the All Progressives Congress in Oshodi-Isolo, Pa Joseph Olabintan, described the Dawodu as a worthy representative who was passionate about the people, congratulating the beneficiaries and thanked the lawmaker for the kind gesture.

According to him, while some youths are interested in working but have no job to lay their hands on, others are not ready to work but only interested in begging for money from politicians.

The beneficiaries who includes men and ladies were full of appreciation as many of them promised to make use of the grant judiciously as some declared that they had initially lost hope of getting the opportunity.