The Chairman of the Odi-Olowo/Ojuwoye Local Council Development Area of Lagos State and Secretary-General, Conference 57, Rasak Ajala, has launched a N250m empowerment programme for residents of his council area.

Ajala, in a statement on Thursday, said his support for the “underprivileged” was borne out of his experience as a young person.

“Everything boils down to my background. I know and I have tasted it, so I know what people are going through. It’s God that catapulted me to this enviable position, so it is a way of giving back to society.

“We are spending N250m with this empowerment programme. I have already divided the beneficiaries into different areas. For the youth, we are doing competitions; for students, we have a quiz and debate competition; for women, we have grants; for small and medium businesses, we have loan facilities; for the vulnerable, we have susisidised chicken.

“The chicken that goes for N6,000, with N2,500, they can get it here. We do that during Ileya too, when we subsidise rams,” he said.

The council boss, while recounting his younger days in the Ajala area of Mushin, noted that through hard work he moved from being a councillor to being a council vice chairman and now a chairman of his local council.

“I want to appreciate God because I know the number of lives I have impacted through the various positions I have held and the positions I currently hold.

“As a councillor, before any government started sharing GCE forms, I had already paid the money, same for SSCE,” Ajala added.