Makinde says FG’s N5bn intact

…flags off distribution of food items

Governor Seyi Makinde has flagged off the distribution of food items to residents in Oyo zone.

Makinde said that the state was more concerned about the long-term sustainability of its action plan towards the fight against the ongoing economic hardship and not palliatives.

Speaking on the distribution of the items at the mini stadium, Oyo town, the governor said the state government came up with a robust palliative distribution system tagged Sustainable Action for Economic Recovery (SAFER) that would attack the roots of the economic hardship rather than dealing with the symptoms.

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He described his administration as a transparent government. Makinde revealed that the state bought 37,000 bags of rice to complement the 3000 bags delivered by the federal, to make a total of 40,000 bags to be distributed to 200,000 households in the state.

The distribution was held simultaneously across all the administrative zones, with the deputy governor, speaker, chief of staff to the governor, and other government functionaries leading the exercise in Oke-ogun, Ibarapa, Ogbomoso and Ibadan zones respectively.

Makinde said that Oyo State has committed more resources to the provisions made for distribution because the 3000 bags of rice given to the state by the Federal Government was insufficient to circulate the projected number of poorest of the poor given the prevailing economic situation.

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He highlighted other frameworks covered under SAfER to include ‘Agropreneurs (food security), health, and transportation.

Other palliative measures in the SAFER programme, according to the governor, are low-interest loans to small and micro businesses, enterprise support to the youth, under the Youth Entrepreneurship in Agribusiness Project (YEAP), provision of transportation subsidy, free healthcare to 5000 pensioners and 100 thousand households for a year through a health insurance scheme, among others.