Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde has said that he was not satisfied with the arrangement of the Federal Government conditional cash transfer programme as palliative measures in curtailing the spread of Coronavirus.
The governor stated this on Monday, during a live telephone interview with Isaac Brown of Fresh FM, Ibadan.
“I have never been impressed for one day by how they’ve identified the poorest of the poor and the impact for the N20,000 cash transfer programme.
“I think two days ago, in our meeting, the Task Force meeting, the Head of Service [Mrs Ololade Agboola] informed me that the Conditional Cash Transfer from the Federal Government is going to give N20,000 to people in ten Local Government Areas of Oyo State. I said okay, fine, I mean it’s good that you are informing me but this is a programme that predates this administration.
“So, I see this as an opportunity for us to ensure that we get to the real people that require those palliatives, that’s one. Secondly, once we are able to get this right, that will become the pillar upon which we can build upon for future efforts. And once we have been able to do it right once, we won’t have to go back to the foundation again.
“The data is already being collated by our people in the field. They started yesterday. And, I can promise the people of Oyo State that it’s not going to be business as usual where we show a pile of foodstuff in some warehouse somewhere and in the end, this won’t get to the people who really need it. That will not happen in Oyo State.
Governor Makinde admitted that there was nothing he could do since it was a Federal Government initiative, but he alleged that only 20 per cent of the money got to those who actually needed the fund, while 80 per cent were misplaced.
“I am not policing it. All I am saying is I am not satisfied. I have done a little bit of work on it in terms of gathering intelligence, finding out if this money is actually getting to the people that require it and part of my findings are that no, close to 80% of that money is wasted and 20% that actually gets to some form of individuals is too little and too meagre to have the desired impact. That is my own finding.
“I do have control over the coordinator of that programme. I will change the coordinator and also when we are able to get our own data right, we will tweak it to ensure that the actual people, the real people that require this assistance are the ones getting it,” he added.
Makinde, who had been in isolation for close to two weeks after testing positive for the deadly virus, resumed work on Monday and visited the Olodo Infectious Disease Centre where he expressed reservations about the volume of medical wares sent to the state in the wake of the viral outbreak.
