Ondo women complain after governor's wife charges them N20,000 to attend her NGO's summit

ONDO State residents have frowned at a recent scheme introduced by Governor Rotimi Akeredolu's wide under which she is charging local women a N20,000 registration fee to organise a summit christened Forum of Wives of State Officials (Fosowo).

In the first such meeting of its kind called by Mrs Betty Anyanwu Akeredolu, the summit is being held to  commemorate the first anniversary of Fowoso, which was inaugurated last year.  However, some local residents expressed displeasure at the fact that the governor's wife is charging a gate fee of N20,000, which they say is unreasonable.

They pointed out that since its inception, Fosowo has been fully funded by the state government, so there is no justification for its charging guests to attend a summit. One of the residents who works with Akure South Local Government Area, said that such workshops should not have attracted any fee from participants, particularly as Ondo is mainly civil service state.

“If truly that the purpose of creating Fowoso is to bring succour to homes across the state through sensitisation and workshops on how womenfolk can assist on the home front, then the fees is too outrageous. In my own situation, with my salary less than N100,000 in a month, they want me to pay N20,000 for a programme that will be fully sponsored by the government?

Also condemning the move, one member of staff of the Ondo State Oil Producing Area Development Commission (Osopadec), alleged that Fowoso is more of a fund siphoning platform. According to him, almost all the programmes initiated by Mrs Akeredolu are being sponsored by his workplace Osopadec.

“I was dumbfounded when I saw the invite stating that participants should pay N20,000. One thing I’m certain of is that Osopadec is one of the major financiers of her programmes.

“Not only that she demands for funds from our office, virtually all projects in the commission is been handled by her, which in some cases is through her son, Jide. Even, the Bemore  project which she also handles is fully funded by Osopadec," he added.

However, Oluwatobi Fademi, the chief press secretary to the governor's wife, Oluwatobi Fademi, argued that the registration fee is meant to take care of the resource persons for the summit and as well cater for participants. She added that the fee is cheap compared with other states, pointing out that the summit was solely sponsored by individual contributions and not through the government.

Ms Fademi added: “The summit is for two days on the 5th and 6th of November but the 5th is the day of the lecture when people are paying. We’re bringing world renowned people for the lecture and it is money that we are going to use to bring them and the registration is for people that can afford it.

“That day there will be raffle draw, where people will win things, there will be gifts for everyone, as well as food. In Lagos State, such programme goes for as high as N5,000 per participant and even Oyo State has something similar."