The Ondo State government, on Tuesday, flagged off the distribution of palliatives to vulnerable households in the state to cushion the harsh realities of the removal of fuel subsidy by the Federal Government
Speaking during the distribution of the food items in Isua Akoko, headquarters of Akoko South East Local Government Area of the state, the State Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Bamidele Ademola-Olateju, said every households and residents would benefit from the initiative irrespective of their political affiliations and assured that the food palliative will reach the targeted beneficiaries.
According to her, about 1,200 bags of rice will be distributed to 6,000 households in the local government area council area while a similar exercise will be carried out in the other four local government areas in Akoko land.
She said “Today, we are kicking off the distribution of palliatives to Ondo State residents and it happens that the four local government areas in Akoko are the first to be distributed to.
“There will be five people to a bag of rice and here, we have trucks coming in to take the palliatives to various towns in Akoko South East comprising Ipesi, Sosan, Ifira, Epinmi , Isua among others. We have 1,200 bags of rice for Akoko South East and we are targeting 6,000 households in the local government”.
She explained that the palliatives was part of delivery taken from the Federal Government and the one paid for by the state government.
Ademola-Olateju said religious groups, market women, traders association among other would benefit from the palliatives.
“We have selected the most vulnerable households but base on our experience while we are drawing the list, we have seen that we will go very far. We have Muslim community, Christian Association, Market women, traders association, tailoring association, Iyalojas among others.
“We have have been very diligent in making this selection. We will learn a lot of lessons from the distribution. Whatever lessons we learn, we are going to share it with the main committee and we hope we don’t learn bad lesson and even if we learn bad lesson, we hope to gain from it because this is the first tranche and lesson learnt we be improved upon.
“We will repeat the successes recorded and it there is any bad lesson, we will mitigate it in other time, so we will not make the same mistake again”.
While retreating that other local governments in the state will soon get there share of the Palliatives, she assured that besides rice, other local food items would be procured and distributed to the poor people in the state using the existing data in the communities in the state.
“For local governments like Idanre, Odigbo, Okitipupa among others coming behind us, we will will tell them our experiences in the field today”.
Also, Mr Suleiman Muritala Babatunde, Ondo State House of Assembly member representing Akoko South East, expressed gratitude for the palliatives.
As a representative of the people, I am glad that this is happening in my local government. I would like to thank the Federal Government in conjunction with the state government for providing these palliatives.
“I also thank the state for prompt action and delivery of the palliatives.
We carried along traditional worshipers, traditional rulers, Christian and Muslim groups, artisans and most of the segments that make up our community in Isua.
“These are the people who produced the list with us that we will distribute to. The process was free and fair,” he said.
READ ALSO FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
and then