From Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
Oyo State Government has announced that it will commence distribution of food palliatives to the residents of the state who are deemed the “poorest of the poor” from Wednesday August 30, 2023.
The Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Prince Dotun Oyelade, and his counterpart in the Ministry of Budget and Planning, Prof Musibaudeen Babatunde; and Community for Women Affairs, Mrs Toyin Balogun, made the disclosure during a press conference in Ibadan the state capital, on Tuesday.
According to them, each vulnerable household would receive a 10kilogramme bag of rice and a five kilogrammes bag of beans. They disclosed that 200,000 households would benefit from the food palliatives distribution.
Babatunde noted that the total cost of the palliatives is N8.63 billion, and the state government is bearing N5.9billion of that cost, while their local governments is earning N2.6 billion. They stated further that the expenditures would cover food, food security (agropreneurs), security apparatus, and more.
When asked about the methodology of choosing the households for the palliatives distribution, the Commissioners for Information and Budget stated that the data they would use was generated from COVID-19, and is the most reliable data available currently.
The date, according to them, would be used as a baseline template, and future revisions would occur based on the feedbacks they received from the first phase of the palliative programme.
Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in he state has accused Governor ‘Seyi Makinde of diverting N5.7 billion and other palliative items. The Federal Government had sent funds and food donations to alleviate the economic hardships experienced by the people of Oyo State during the COVID-19 pandemic.
APC stated that the state PDP administration is withholding information relating to the receipt, distribution, and management of these items.
In a statement issued by its Publicity Secretary, Olawale Sadare, Oyo APC criticised Makinde for deliberately withholding the information regarding the receipt of the funds and food items. The party added that the governor might have diverted the 3,000 bags of rice received from Abuja and COVID-19 relief materials donated by the government, corporate organisations, and individual philanthropists.
The APC further placed allegations on Makinde claiming that he instructed local government council chairmen to transfer N56 million paid to their council accounts between August 16 and 18, this year, by the Federal Government as the shares of the third tier of government to the state government account. The APC claims that the 33 local government councils in the state received a total of N3.696 billion but could not use it for its intended purpose.
Sadare asserted that the palliative committee set up by the Governor was entirely a publicity stunt that would not benefit Oyo’s impoverished residents. He further speculated that the state government might distribute a few bags of rice and noodles to the committee to share with a select few PDP members. All of this is to create the illusion that the palliatives are being distributed to the poor and vulnerable in society, he alleged.
Daily Sun, however, gathered that residents of Oyo State are eagerly awaiting the distribution of food palliatives, and that the latest accusations by the APC have incensed some who see the governor’s initiative as a genuinely noble effort to combat hunger and help the most vulnerable sectors of the state.
Though it remains to be seen whether the allegations are true or false, one thing that is clear is that the distribution of palliatives is critical to the well-being of many in the state at this time of economic hardship.
