The Federal Government on Friday delivered to Ogun state five trucks of rice, one truck of vegetable oil , as part of the palliatives to cushion the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic, Sadiya Umar Farouk, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, announced during a visit to the state.
Speaking on the palliatives being given to cushion the negative effects of the lockdown in Lagos, Ogun and FCT Abuja, the Minister said that “apart from 100 trucks containing maize, sorghum and garri, additional six trucks of rice and vegetable will be delivered to the (Ogun) state.
“They (trucks) are coming with quite a number of trucks. I cannot say precisely the number now, but over a hundred of trucks with maize, sorghum and garri, are really coming to Ogun state,” she said during a visit to Governor Dapo Abiodun at the Governor’s Office at Oke – Mosan, Abeokuta .
“But what I have brought with me now is other food items, rice precisely, that we have been handed over by the Nigeria Customs Service. Five trucks of 3,000 bags of 50kg rice and one truck of vegetable oil. This is what we have brought to the Government of the Ogun state,” she said.
On the conditional transfers being made to the poor and vulnerable across the nation, she disclosed that a total sum of N5.3 billion had so far been paid into 267,398 bank accounts of the poor and vulnerable households across 22 states under the Federal Government’s Conditional Cash Transfer Programme.
According to the Minister, disbursement of Conditional Cash Transfer of N5,000 each to poor and vulnerable Nigerians covers the months of January, February, March and April, 2020; payment for the months of May and June would soon be made, she said.
Farouk told the governor that Ogun state which has not been benefiting from the conditional cash transfer since inception would soon be captured from May as the team from the Ministry and the State officials would on Monday commence registration of the targeted beneficiaries.
“On April 1st, the Ministry commenced a two-month advance payment for the Conditional Cash Transfer to the poor and vulnerable households as directed by Mr President. Your Excellency, although Ogun State has not benefited from this programme since its inception, I’m happy to tell you that very soon Ogun is going to be on board and we are going to do everything possible so that your people are not left out,” she said.
“This intervention covers a period of four months – January, February, March and April – and very soon, we will start the May and June. We normally give two months payment because of the logistics involved. It is supposed to be N5,000 per month but we give N10,000 after every two months. And now with the directive of Mr President, we are going to pay two months advance.
“So far, we have covered 267,398 poor and vulnerable households and we have been able to lay this in 22 states across the nation,” she explained.
Responding, Governor Abiodun appealed to the Federal Government to fast-track the process of the cash transfer to make Ogun people benefit on time, saying poor people of the state, like never before, need the conditional cash transfer to cushion negative effects of lockdown.
The governor, who described the COVID -19 crisis as challenging considering that Ogun state proximity to Lagos state makes it vulnerable to the virus, declared that the State government is doing a lot in terms of containment of Coronavirus spread in the state and provision of relief materials to the poor and vulnerable people in the state.
