Ondo begins distribution of oil subsidy palliatives to beneficiaries

DAMISI OJO, Akure

Ondo State government on Tuesday commenced the distribution of long awaited oil subsidy removal to vulnerable in the state.

The State Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Bamidele Ademola-Olateju, while speaking during the flag-off of the distribution of  in Isua, headquarters of Akoko South East Local Government Area of the state, said the government was aware of the hardships the citizens are facing,

She added that the food palliative would reach the targetted beneficiaries.

The commissioner, who explained that 1,200 bags of rice would be distributed to 6,000 households in the council area, stressed that the initiative was meant for all residents of the state regardless of their political affiliations.

“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 disclosed that the palliatives were 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 others would benefit from the palliatives.

She said” 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 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 reiterating that other local governments in the state will soon get their 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”

Mr. Suleiman Muritala Babatunde, Ondo State House of Assembly member representing Akoko South East, expressed gratitude for the palliatives.

He said: “As 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”.

Responding on behalf of Isua Community, Mr. Akin Aibinuomo, a former Chairman of Akoko South East LGA, said the community was given160 bags of 50kg rice as palliatives.

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