In a concerted effort to alleviate the economic challenges faced by vulnerable households, the Ondo State government has embarked on a large-scale palliative distribution program. The distribution was officially inaugurated in four Local Government Areas within the Akokoland region.
The State Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Bamidele Ademola-Olateju, presided over the flag-off ceremony, held in Isua, the headquarters of Akoko South East Local Government.
During her address, she assured the public that these food palliatives would successfully reach their intended recipients.
This vital initiative comes at a time when many households across the state are grappling with economic hardships exacerbated by various factors, including the global pandemic. The distribution of these palliatives is expected to provide much-needed relief and support to those in need, especially as other States have started with the distribution.
The Ondo State government has emphasized its commitment to the well-being of its citizens, particularly those facing economic vulnerabilities. Bamidele stated that 1,200 bags of rice would be allocated to 6,000 households in the region, without taking their political affiliations into consideration.
She said: “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.”
Ademola-Olateju mentioned that the palliatives would extend their benefits to religious groups, market women, and traders’ associations, among others.
“We have selected the most vulnerable households but base on our experience while we were 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 learnt, 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 will be improved upon.
“We will repeat the successes recorded and if there is any bad lesson, we will mitigate it other time, so we will not make the same mistake again”.
In addition to her announcement that other local governments in the state would receive their portion of the palliatives in due course, she reassured that apart from rice, various locally-sourced food items would be acquired and distributed to underprivileged individuals across the state, utilizing the available community data.
“For local governments like Idanre, Odigbo, Okitipupa among others coming behind us, we will tell them our experiences in the field today”.