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Osun Food Support Scheme: 30,000 vulnerable citizens to benefit monthly – Says Oyetola
Osun State Governor, Gboyega Oyetola, on Thursday flagged off Osun Food Support Scheme to mitigate the excruciating impact of the Coronavirus pandemic on vulnerable citizens in the State.
He said the initiative is another way of keeping faith with government’s promise to prioritise citizens welfare and general well-being.
He said the scheme has become necessary because available statistics point to the fact that many jobs have been lost with many sources of livelihoods significantly threatened as a result of the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic.
The scheme which begins from this month, will run till the end of the life of this Administration and it is designed to cater for the critical needs of 30,000 poor and vulnerable citizens, including youths, widows, the aged and people living with disabilities across the State on a monthly basis.
The beneficiaries were drawn across the nooks and crannies of the State, using the World Bank-sponsored Social Register and it would cater for the targets’ needs in a manner that is just and equitable.
Addressing the people at the flag-off ceremony held at the open field, Local Government Service Commission, Abere, Osogbo, Oyetola said the scheme was also in fulfillment of the administration’s avowed determination to provide a buffer for the vulnerable, especially those, who, on account of the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic, had been thrown off balance economically and emotionally.
He stressed that the administration’s ultimate goal, apart from feeding the vulnerable in the interim, was to also boost local food production and achieve food security in the long run.
The Governor disclosed that the food support scheme has been carefully calibrated, in line with the Administration’s policy of promoting small, micro and medium businesses to boost the local economy, saying, “to this end, all food items will be sourced locally to further encourage our local farmers and businesses”.
Oyetola said that to achieve the sustainability of the scheme, his Administration, in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, had commenced the clearing of 10,000 acres of land, part of which would be allocated to youths who are genuinely interested in farming to engage them effectively and productively, saying 30 percent of the beneficiaries of the Food Support Scheme are youths.
He said the decision was to demonstrate that government is youth-friendly and committed to its youth engagement policies and programmes as reflected in the reasonable percentage allocated to them in the last budget.
Governor Oyetola stressed further that the Administration had begun work on two farm settlements in Ife and Ifon, which would be duly equipped with all relevant facilities, including residential, to make farming attractive to the young people
“Today’s event, is therefore, an eloquent affirmation that we are a responsible and compassionate Administration that knows and feels your pains and silent struggles and we will not relent until we provide the needed relief required to support you to regaining your balance.
“Through this Scheme, in the first instance, 30,000 beneficiaries across our State will be reached and provided with 5kg of food bags as a token of support.
“To make the exercise hitch-free and transparent, we have constituted a committee made of relevant State functionaries and key stakeholders with representations from the various religious bodies, trade groups, youth groups, minority groups, among others.
“We are adopting the use of the World Bank-sponsored Social Register to cater for beneficiaries in a manner that is just and equitable across the various nook and crannies of our State.
“It should be noted that this programme is part of our overall strategic response to the challenges thrusted on us by the pandemic. You will recall that during the lockdown, we embarked on massive distribution of palliatives to vulnerable households across our State.
“We also followed this up with our post-COVID economic recovery plan targeted at empowering over 5,000 SMEs with relevant skills and requisite funding in partnership with the Bank of Industry. Through the Ministry of Youth and Sports, we have also been facilitating loans to businesses in the State and to support youth entrepreneurship.
“It is our earnest expectations that, in no distant time, we would be able to have our farmers produce enough farm produce, especially staple foods that are commonly consumed within our locality for the Food Support Scheme where government becomes the off-taker,” Oyetola added.
In his remarks, the Commissioner for Regional Integration and Special Duties, Olalekan Badmus, said the gesture would serve as a good means to stem the negative tide of social vices, family breakdown, emotional disturbances and reduce rate of destitution that might emanate from lack of food among the vulnerable.
He disclosed that the first phase of the initiative had been designed to cater for the needs of the 570,000 persons in the State which in turn would have a greater impact on the economy of the State as all food items would be sourced locally.
Badmus commended the Governor for taking the welfare and well-being of the citizens as priority.
Speaking at the event, Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi; Ataoja of Osogbo, Oba Jimoh Olanipekun and Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdul-Rasheed Akanbi, lauded the government’s gesture and described it as timely and prompt.
They attributed the large presence of traditional rulers to the hands of fellowship extended to them by the government just as they implored the representatives of the beneficiaries to do justice in the distribution of the stimulus package.
In their separate remarks, some of the beneficiaries thanked the Governor for the kind gesture which they described as unprecedented in the history of the State.
A chieftain of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP in Osun State, Senator Felix Ogunwale has said the Nigerian presidency should lead the way for others to follow in cutting down cost of governance.
Senator Ogunwale spoke on Wednesday in Osogbo while fielding question from a panel at a programme, The Frontliners’ organised by the Osun State Chapter of Association of Veteran Journalists, AVJ.
He said the right thing to be done was for the president of the country to show commitment to changing the narrative by not only asking Nigerians to endure the current hardship but to demonstrate the willingness to also make all arms of government to also feel the impact in their budget.
“I have always said it that we are note being driven by ideas in Nigeria but money. You can’t be asking those in the National Assembly to reduce their pay now when in actual sense the reason for some of them being their is to amaze wealth.
“Do you know what to correct this, it’s if our president, I am not referring to the current president, it’s the day our president decide to be riding bicycle to his office, the day the balance in his account is not more than 10 million, the day our president refuses to take more aides than it’s necessary, the day our president doesn’t believe in amazing wealth.”
The chairman of the event, Dr. Muyiwa Oladimeji who also shared the views of the guest urged the people of the State to continue to support the Administration of Senator Ademola Adeleke to be able to achieve his dream of developing all sectors of the State.
He commeded the AVJ for championing such efforts geared towards charting a way forward on how to achieve all round growth and development of the society and the nation at large.
Earlier, the chairman, AVJ, Adepoju Atobatele had described the programme as another opportunity to get Nigerians engaged on salient issues of national and global dimensions on the Front Liners.
Atobatele said, the association considered it a duty as professionals in the pen fraternity, to deepen democracy by constantly provoking Intellectual disputes that would widen public horizon of issues that are germane to the wellbeing, progress, security as well galvanizing interest in the affairs of the Country.
He said “The FRONTLINERS has been very active in widening discussions and analytical assessments of issues, events and personalities involved in determining the socio-economic and political directions of our dear Country, Nigeria.
“These we are carrying out successfully with the resources available to us in different ways, through the instrumentality of the Media.
“Ours as a professional body of retired media practitioners, still active in the concept of information management, has thus taken it as a sacred duty to act as change agents in a society yearning for objective information dissemination.”
…as Nigeria sets to sign MoU with Saudi Arabia
The minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, on Tuesday, continued bilateral discussions with ministers and representatives from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Brazil and Jamaica, expressing Nigeria’s government interest in learning from their knowledge and experiences.
This was revealed through his media aide, Ismail Omipidan, in a statement issued on Tuesday evening.
Recall that Oyetola, on Monday, held bilateral meetings with representatives of Greece, Qatar, and Mexico, on the sidelines of the ongoing 33rd General Assembly session of the International Maritime Organization, IMO, in London, United Kingdom.
During his meeting with the Brazilian Chief of the Navy’s General Staff, Adm José Augusto V. da Cunha de Menezes, the minister said Nigeria would want to learn from the operations of the Brazilian coast guards, as the ministry was desirous of setting up one so as to further secure the maritime space and the country’s waterways.
Oyetola further noted that: “We want to also focus on sectors such as Marine Renewable Energy, Marine Mining, Subsea Cabling and Piping, Marine Genetics, and Biotechnology, so as to grow the marine and blue economy.
“As we continue to expand and develop the activities of the sector, there will be need to deepen security architecture within the maritime space. In this regard, we are considering setting up Coast Guards and we believe that they will complement the existing security architecture to further secure our maritime space.”
The minister while expressing Nigeria’s desire to tap into technology to revolutionalise the maritime sector, further said “technology and innovation are vital for boosting Nigeria’s trade and investment prospects within the Marine and Blue Economy. Advanced marine technologies, including innovations in maritime logistics and smart logistics solutions, will significantly enhance the efficiency and sustainability of maritime transport and port operations, making Nigerian ports more competitive globally.”
Oyetola also met the newly elected Vice President of IMO, who is the Bangladesh High Commissioner to the UK, Saida Muna Tasneem and Saudi Arabia’s Saleh bin Nasser AIJasser, who is the minister in charge of the Ministry of Transport and Logistics Services of Saudi Arabia, Department of Economic and Social Affairs.
Both Saudi Arabia and Nigeria during the meeting agreed to sign a formal Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to cement their corporations, collaboration and partnership in the maritime space.
The Special Adviser to Governor Ademola Jackson Nurudeen Adeleke on Rural Water and Environmental Sanitation Agency RUWESA, Chief Lanre Odelade has described the one year Administration of Governor Adeleke as pace setting.
Speaking with newsmen today,the Special Adviser says, the tactful method of Intervention in critical areas of the state’s economy and social welfare has given out the Administration as commited to the welfare and advancement of their living conditions.
Chief Odelade particularly lauded the state government for it’s quick response to correcting the infrastructural deficit,impaired health care delivery,and neglect of public sector workers,all of which were inherited from the previous ApC Governments.
The Special Adviser particularly noted the swift response of Government to water Provision which led to the sinking of solar and generator powered bore holes to the 332 wards in the state.
Chief Odelade is optimistic that Governor Ademola Adeleke will consolidate on the gains of the past one year with renewed focus on taking the local government Administration from the duldrums to the centre stage of development and self reliance in accordance with the five point agenda of the state government.
He called on the people to give maximum support to Governor Ademola Adeleke in his determined efforts to take Osun state to the promised land.
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