Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State has revealed that the distribution of relief supplies to 200,000 vulnerable households in the state will commence in the coming week. He conveyed this information in a letter addressed to the state’s residents while he was attending an Executive Leadership Retreat in Kigali, Rwanda, organized by the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP),leadership reports.
In the letter, the governor highlighted the progress made in implementing the Sustainable Actions for Food and Economic Resilience (SAfER) program since his previous announcement. He stated:
“We have been actively working to fulfill our promise. We have established committees and sub-committees as part of the implementation process. I am pleased to inform you that the planning phase is nearing completion, and we are prepared to launch the full implementation of SAfER.”
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Governor Makinde emphasized that the distribution of the Food Relief Package to 200,000 vulnerable households in all 33 local government areas of the state would commence in the upcoming week. He provided insight into how the social register containing details of these households was compiled during the COVID-19 pandemic. Representatives were deployed to communities, and community leaders assisted in identifying the vulnerable individuals. The data was then thoroughly verified.
Each household will receive a package consisting of 10kg of rice, 5kg each of beans, garri, and elubo, as well as a bottle of groundnut oil. The governor urged residents to report any irregularities they observe in the distribution process.
Governor Makinde also shared updates on other aspects of the SAfER program, including the allocation of an additional N500 million as loans to smallholder farmers through the Agricultural Credit Corporation of Oyo State (ACCOS). This financial support aims to reach farmers who may not have been covered by the distribution of agricultural inputs to 10,000 farmers, as previously announced.
He mentioned that the profiling process for beneficiaries of the Youth Entrepreneurship Accelerator Program (YEAP) with established businesses would soon be completed, and contact with eligible youths would be made in the next few weeks. The same applies to artisans and traders who will receive support through the N500 million earmarked for small businesses.
Governor Makinde concluded by stating that as more funds become available, they will continue to implement initiatives for the benefit of the people, referencing the recent announcement of a N5 billion facility by the Federal Government for state governments.
