The Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Adeoye Aribasoye Babajide Agbeyo, has stated that the Ekiti lawmakers traveling to Canada for a leadership retreat are using their own funds for the trip.
Speaking in a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media on Thursday, the Speaker said the foreign trip is for those who can finance their journey, adding that it would be for value addition.
“This exchange offers our legislators invaluable insights into best practices and innovative governance strategies that will ultimately benefit the people of Ekiti State. By investing in their own growth, these members are investing in the future of our state.
This is not the first of such trip and I don’t pray it’ll be the last. We shall continue to equip ourselves with local and international retreats and events within affordable range and without heaping burden on state resources.
A legislature that is not exposed couldn’t have clinched our recent feat as the best state assembly in ICT integration,” he said.
Also, one of the lawmakers who spoke to SaharaReporters stated that: “It is a self-sponsored trip on inter-parliamentary capacity building and leadership training in Canada. Its open to honourable members and parliamentarians that are ready to sponsor themselves across the 36 states, it’s not limited to Ekiti State alone.
The document circulating has 27 names and in Ekiti, we have 26 members. Six or seven names on the list are not honourable members. We are not complete on the document because it’s a self-sponsored trip. Some of us are willing to attend, key into the opportunity for the training from our personal purse.
We are to also use the opportunity to woe Ekiti Kete in Canada to come back home and invest.”
