Oyin-oluwa Abiona
Ekiti State has reached another remarkable milestone in its stride towards sharing prosperity across various sectors of the State’s economy.
The news that Governor Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji approved the Ekiti State Arts Endowment Fund thereby making Ekiti the first State in Nigeria to achieve this took the centre-spread in major national news papers recently.
The agitation for the provision of Arts Endowment Fund in Nigeria was reported to have passed through various stages before it got stalled due to inter-association struggles and mistrust among arts Associations.
Therefore, the news of the approval of the fund by Ekiti State Government was received with great joy among the stakeholders when, earlier in March this year, Ekiti State Hon Commissioner for Arts, Culture and Creative Economy Prof Rasaki Ojo Bakare announced it to the cross section of Arts stakeholders in Ado-Ekiti.
Culture Matters gathered that the Ministry of Arts, Culture and Creative Economy, at the Ekiti State Secretariat, has become a new Mecca with the daily visit of various categories of creative personalities.
Therefore, in order to properly orientate the members of Ekiti State creative family about the Fund, series of meetings have been held with Prof Bakare making clarifications on what the fund is meant for.
The Ekiti State Arts Endowment Fund, according to Prof Bakare, is a revolving loan which every registered professionals within the Ekiti State creative circle is entitled to access multiple times depending on the demonstrated level of integrity and honesty in the management and repayment of the loan.
During a meeting with the Executive members of Arts Association recently, the leaders of various arts associations, such as the Society of Ekiti State Creative Artists (SOECA), Theater Arts and Motion Pictures Practitioners Association of Nigeria (TAMPAN), Movie Makers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) and others, expressed appreciation to Governor Oyebanji for showing an unprecedented commitment to the empowerment of creative artists and for the implementation of E.S.A.E.F.
On Thursday, in another meeting with some of those who submitted application for the Fund loan, Prof Bakare took time to educate them on the operations of the Fund. He informed them that the loan would only attract a single digit interest and that the tenure is 18 months with a moratorium of 6months before monthly repayment is expected to commence.
Judging by the showers of praise and commendation poured on the State Government, it was clear that the loan was a welcome idea.
Culture Matters Correspondent, Oyin-oluwa Abiona who covered the event, and also applied to be a beneficiary, explained that the Ministry of Arts, Culture and Creative Economy, under whose auspices the Fund was initiated, would be partnering with a reputable Bank in order to put in place an effective loan recovery mechanism to enable others have access to such opportunity in future.
Prof Ojo Bakare announced that the official presentation of Award Letters to both individual and group beneficiaries would be done on Monday 22nd April, 2024 at the JIBOWU HALL of the Ekiti State Government House.
His Excellency, Governor Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji, Executive Governor of Ekiti State would personally do the presentation by 11am prompt. Therefore all guests, beneficiaries and 20 members of each of the benefiting Associations are expected to have been seated by 10;30am.
It is noteworthy that Ekiti State Government has taken the shared prosperity Agenda of BAO’s administration to every sector. Chief Makinwa Afolabi, an Ekiti State Senior Citizen, who spoke to Oyin-oluwa expressed amazement that hardly was there a single day without one major intervention, one mass empowerment scheme and a life-touching social responsibility programme. He said Ekiti State pensioners and retirees had never felt so divinely favoured.
Culture Matters made series of efforts to see anyone with a different opinion from what the Senior Citizen said. Such efforts, however, ended in fiasco as it became clear that not one person, even among those who ougth to be playing the opposition, had anything or was ready, in the least, to say anything contrary to what Pa Makinwa had said.
With BAO administration continuing to walk the talk and not leaving anything undone, it is certain that the Ekiti State Creative Economy sector would rank among the best nationwide in no time.
THE END.
Culture Matters 