Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti state, under fire for pretending to live an ordinary life, but with billions of naira traced to his personal bank account about two months ago, escalated his “stomach infrastructure” programme on Tuesday, handing out rice and other food items to already impoverished state residents and declaring that he will continue to do so because it is his “way of life”.
Nigerians describe “stomach infrastructure” as the habit of handing out food to voters during or close to election period instead of working hard to develop the state with “real infrastructure” such as schools or hospitals.
Governor Fayose was speaking with Nigerian journalists on Tuesday, his spokesman said, after a special session with widows from across the state at Funmilayo Olayinka Women Development Centre, Fajuyi, Ado Ekiti, the state capital.
As usual, he promised to continue to do his best in making the widows happy and he will continue to pay N5000 to 10 thousand widows in the state.
“It’s an ongoing thing, we didn’t just start today, today’s program is meant to alleviate the suffering of the people, to help them in keeping body and soul together, this is the one for the widows, we have done for people in some other sectors that needs to be supported.
“It’s a way of life, we are doing it continuously and we’ll not stop. The #5,000 monthly stipend we talked about, it’s about our poverty alleviation package of #5,000 per person, though it cannot go round at a time, we will ensure we maximize the number of beneficiaries from the widow’s category, we’ll make sure they get the stipend, and on time too”, the governor said.