|
Ife Development Board launches N500m
industrialisation
fund
sebastine ebhuomhan
reporter
Barring
any unforeseen circumstances,
all is now set for the formal launching of 500 million industrialisation fund
for the development of the ancient city of Ile-Ife, Osun State as part of the
activities marking this year’s Ife Day.
The annual festival, according to Mr. Gbenga Adefaye,
Chairman of the Media Sub-Committee, is scheduled for the Ife City Stadium
between December 10 and 11.
Adefaye, a seasoned journalist and current editor of Vanguard, spoke in the company of two other
members of the sub-committee, Mr. Demola Balogun of The News and Qasim Akinreti of Voice of
Nigeria during a
courtesy visit to the corporate headquarters of Independent Newspapers Limited last Friday.
Explaining the reason for the fund drive, Adefaye
stated that Ife, an ancient but war-ravaged town with many people in leadership
positions was reeling under the negative impact of delinquent youths.
Expressing confidence that the people would respond positively, he added that
the fund was would be used to establish cottage and medium scale industries to
give gainful employment to the unemployed.
“Before now, Ife had become synonymous with
war, crimes, killing and violence. But thank God that what led to unnecessary
bloodletting has now been taken care of. There is no Yoruba man or woman that
does not belong to the Ife ancestral root. We came out with this programme
because we felt we could take in all the young men and women in Ife without
jobs and who make themselves available for mischief makers to use for gainful
employment through the establishment of industries. That is why we came here to
appeal to you to help us to create awareness, to create publicity and also seek
accountability from us. We want the media to work with us and also ask us
questions.”
In his response, Mr. Ted Iwere, Executive Editor of Independent
Newspapers Limited
who welcomed the sub-committee along with Mr. James Akpandem, Editor and Mr.
John Oseze-Langley, Manager, Public Affairs, promised to give them the
necessary assistance.
“I
know none of you here is a stranger. We know you all as much as you know us. We
can assure you of our full support as far as media coverage or publicity is
concerned. If we need to extend the support beyond that, we would not hesitate
to do it, especially if it is within our means and resources,” Iwere said
before officially presenting copies of the paper to the sub-committee.
|
