Oyo State governor, Engineer Seyi Makinde said it took time for his government to arrive at the list after it discovered that the lists of poor and vulnerable met from the former administration were the lists of those used to milk the state, the Nation Newspaper reports.
The Governor spoke on Wednesday while flagging off the first phase of the distribution of palliatives at Igboora, Ibarapa Central Local Government Area of the state.
Noting that the distribution has been decentralized across various zones in the state so as to ensure the packages reach expected beneficiaries devoid of political or religious bias, the Governor said 2,836 packages items would be distributed for people from Ibarapa Central, Ibarapa East, and Ibarapa North.
The items already packed in a customized bag include beans, yam flour, garri, and vegetable oil.
According to the governor, no fewer than 90,000 households have been identified to benefit from the first phase which would not take more than three days to complete.
He added that the second phase targeted towards another 30,000 people described as vulnerable will commence next week while assuring farmers that special palliative including seedlings, farm inputs, pesticides are been worked on for them before the planting season ends.
Describing himself as an authority on coronavirus, having survived it, Governor Makinde assured party leaders, traditional rulers and religious leaders of his administration’s commitment to ensuring that their interest is covered in the distribution of the palliatives as a way of ensuring that those in needs are identified are catered for
Makinde said “If you want to offer treatment for some people, they will ask you if you have ever suffered the same ailment before or not. I have been a victim of coronavirus and I have survived it. So, if I talk about coronavirus and its spread in society, I am an authority in that regard because I have suffered it and survived.
“When all the other states are contemplating total lockdown in their states, I insisted that in Oyo State, there won’t be total lockdown. So, what we did was partial lockdown, so that people won’t be spreading the virus that is very contagious. We stopped all goings to the beer parlors, night clubs at night, and even walking around late night, we stopped it.
“The partial lockdown meant that we imposed a curfew from 7 pm to 6 am. But, we reviewed it when our farmers told us that 6 am is too late for them to go the farm, we reviewed it till 5 am so that our farmers can go to farm early especially in this planting season.
“So, why is the Oyo State government sharing palliative when the state is not on total lockdown? Because total lockdown meant people won’t be able to go to work or their places of the source of livelihood at all. But, in our case, people still go to work and source means of livelihood and why then do we still want to support our people with foodstuffs and other items?
“The reason we want to share palliative is that there are even many people without means of livelihood and who have used coronavirus as an excuse. But for those people whose means of livelihood is dependent on working for others such as menial jobs during parties or other petty jobs, especially those affected by the ban of the social gathering of people more than ten.
“For some of our people, their means of livelihood has been affected adversely because they couldn’t go out. There are some people whose business activities start around the evening, maybe those selling petty food for evening consumption but now that we have asked them to stay indoor, their means of livelihood have been affected.
“Also, those operating beer parlor and night clubs, their business has been affected. So, there are people within us, the traders, market men, and women whose business has been affected in one way or the other. Because of those whose businesses have been affected, we agreed that we should give palliatives.
“We have decentralized the distribution of the palliatives so, all the items here are for Ibarapa land only. So, I will just flag it off and they will start distribution.
“The beneficiaries of the ones been distributed now are the poorest of the poor in our midst. But people have been coming to me that traditional rulers and party leaders should be the ones to share the palliatives but I am aware that hunger knows no party affiliation either PDP or APC and I told those working with me that we will not share it according to party divides but for those hungry in our midst.
“But, people feed where they work, so our party leaders, traditional rulers, religious leaders, the palliatives they would share is coming after now. What we are doing now is that we have identified the poorest of the poor in Oyo State and over 90,000 households are identified.
“What we did was that we went out, we sent people out and I even called some of them personally. So, this palliative that we are distributing in this first phase would be for the 90,000 poorest of the poor households.
“By next week, we will start the distribution for the vulnerable. Those are the categories to cover those going to meet our religious leaders, party leaders at home, and even our traditional rulers that they have nothing to eat, those are vulnerable within us. We have made provisions for 30,000 households who are vulnerable that we will distribute to after this one.
“We have the phone numbers of the beneficiaries, they will be called and given the items and they will be called again after to be sure they have received the items. The data we met on the ground, we checked the names of those that were identified as the poorest of the poor and we discovered that they are the ones milking the state dry.
“That was why we had to start all over again and change the tactics of not using party affiliation but that people must be located in our communities. Some of those whom I called said they are selling provisions another petty stuff. Some said they are farmers.
“As a matter of fact, the message the farmers gave me personally was that, they approve my giving them palliatives of foods but that they have enough foods in the house, but what they want is farm inputs. They said they want seedlings if we can come and clear their farms and give them pesticides, herbicides to improve the harvest.
“I am also saying that those special categories of farmers will have special palliatives for them. For the first 90,000 household, it must not take more than three days for the distribution.
“I appeal to all elders to monitor the distribution, to ensure that those who are given are from your midst. If you don’t know who they are, please object to their receiving it. But,with the kind of work our people have done, I will be surprised if you discover that the supposed beneficiaries are not from your midst.”
