The Ogun State government, on Friday, commenced the distribution of 10kg bags of rice as a palliative measure to cushion the effects of the removal of fuel subsidies.
The flag-off ceremony took place at the Arcade ground of the Governor’s office in Oke Mosan, Abeokuta.
The Federal Government had approved a sum of N5 billion in grant for each of the 36 states in the federation to purchase grains and five trucks of rice for each state as palliative measures to mitigate the impact of the elimination of fuel subsidies.
Ogunwatch reports that Governor Dapo Abiodun, speaking at the ceremony, noted that the 300 thousand 10kg bags of rice would be distributed across all polling units.
“Today, we are flagging off the distribution of the palliative and inaugurating the Palliative Distribution Committee.”
“Our initial goal is to distribute about 300 thousand 10kg bags of rice across all polling units. We have decided to use the polling unit as the reference for distribution because we realize that using wards would not be equitable.”
He also announced that his administration would provide free healthcare insurance cover called “IBIDERO” for all pregnant women across the state and offer bursary payments for all students who are indigenes of the state.
“We will also be providing all pregnant women across the state with our Ogun State health insurance cover called ‘IBIDERO.’ This will cover their prenatal engagement and postnatal consultation for up to six months.”
“We will also be extending the same palliative measures to our students. We will be providing bursaries for our indigene students across various higher institutions.”
Attendees at the ceremony included the Iya Oloja, the Secretary of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners, the Secretary of the Community Development Council, among others.
