Mr Terwase Aondoakaa, a member of the Benue House of Assembly, has donated 10 water pumping machines to Vegetable Producers and Sellers Co-operative Society.
SEE ALSO: How to make Local Rice attractive to Nigerians – Farmers Group
Aondoakaa made the donation on Monday at Agboughoul in Makurdi.
“The donation is my token of appreciation to the people who overwhelmingly voted for me in the 2019 general elections.
“I am here to say `thank you’ for overwhelmingly voting for me and the PDP during the 2019 general elections.
“You will recall that during the campaigns, I promised I was not going to abandon you when elected and that is exactly why I have come to say I am grateful to you.
“As business women engaged in the production and sales of vegetable, and having been around you long enough to know some of your challenges, I thought it wise to purchase and donate to you this water pumping machines so as to enhance your businesses.
“I shall continue to do more as resources at my disposal permit,” he said.
He charged them to make judicious use of the machines so that they could impact positively on their economic lives.
In his remarks, the leader of the Agboughoul Community, Mr Vincent Tseson, described the gesture as he first from any elected member from the constituency.
Tseson recalled how Aondoakaa intervened to put a halt to nefarious activities of herdsmen when the issue was brought to his notice, and urged the people to support him so as to spur him to do even more.
Tseson equally tasked other elected officers to borrow a leaf from Aondoakaa’s style of leadership so that those they represent could feel their impact.
He charged the women not to divert the machines to other uses other than those they were donated for, saying that doing so would defeat the purpose for which the donation was made.
Meanwhile, the PDP Chairman in Makurdi Local Government, Yunusa Garba, has said that the gesture did not come to the party as a surprise given the antecedents of the lawmaker over the years.
Earlier, the leader of the beneficiaries, Mrs. Veronica Akile, had said that the donation had tackled one of the major challenges confronting the group.
“The issue of getting water to irrigate our farms has been one of our major challenge. This gesture has tackled that,” she said.