Priscilla Ofunre, Ado-Ekiti
Wife of Ekiti State governor, Erelu Bisi Fayemi, has taken it upon herself to be responsible for sheltering, feeding and clothing a 110-year-old woman, Madam Jolaade Osho, at Okeruku area of lkere-Ekiti in Ikere Local Government Area of the state.
The aged woman was found in a ramshackle building during the verification exercise for the Food Outreach Programme for the elderly, known as ‘Ounje Arugbo’. The project is coordinated by the Ekiti Development Foundation (EDF) run by the office of the First Lady.
The 110-year-old woman’s lonely and pitiable living condition was discovered when she was not able to make it to the gathering of the exercise. The team, therefore, took the exercise to her doorstep.
The aged woman was said to have lost her three children many years ago and had no one to take care of her.
Erelu Fayemi who was moved to tears upon hearing about the woman’s poor condition, paid her a visit, on Tuesday, at her residence in Ikere Ekiti, where she pledged to personally supervise her well-being henceforth.
In addition to changing her accommodation and making arrangement for her daily feeding and upkeep, the wife of the governor also assigned two nannies to take care of the woman.
Announcing her decision to continue in taking proper care of the aged woman, Erelu Fayemi said: “It is very important for us to remember that we have elderly people in our communities who are vulnerable because they either do not have children or their children are far away and had forgotten them or not able to look after them.
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“During John Kayode Fayemi (JKF)’s first tenure, we had the social security programme for old people, which meant we were able to improve their lifespan. But over the past four years, the social security scheme was jettisoned and many of them became indigent.
“In September, we are restarting the social security scheme. I thought l should supplement it with a programme called ‘Ounje Arugbo’, that is, providing food supplement for the elderly and in the verification exercise for that scheme we found this old woman in Ikere, who as we were told is about 110 years old.
“Her children had died many years ago and she has no one to look after her.
“Although, sometimes extended family members drop by to see what they can do but she has been living in very bad condition. I was appalled that a human being can be living in such a place where animals should not even live in. So, l am happy that we are able to do what we have done for her, and l will like to urge members of the public to reach out to old people in their communities, show them love as we too will one day grow old and not everyone will have people to look after them then,” she said.
The visibly joyous Madam Osho was lost for words as she embraced the First lady.
The Chairman, Ikere Local Government, Pastor Kayode Olubode, thanked the Wife of the Governor for her unrelenting efforts and supports for the people of the state.
The APC State Woman leader, Mrs. Monisade Afuye, who accompanied the First lady to Madam Osho’s home, also thanked the state government for the planned reintroduction of the social security scheme for the elderly citizens in the state, a development she said would assist some other indigent elderly citizens in the same shoes as madam Osho.
