Biodun Oyebanji, the Governor of Ekiti State, has launched the second phase of palliative distribution to the people of the state.
This comes only two weeks after the state government began transferring N5,000 monthly to poor individuals in the state.
According to Oyebanji, the Federal and state governments funded the commodities, which include rice and maize, to be given in the second phase in order to minimize the consequences of subsidy reduction.
The governor, who spoke in Ado Ekiti, the state capital, on Saturday while flagging off the distribution of the second tranche of the palliatives said, “Our President, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, sent some palliatives to you and we bought some to be able to go round. It is a partnership between the federal and state governments.
“These palliatives are for the poorest of the poor and whoever can take three square meals daily without stress should please resist the temptation of taking from these palliatives. It is for those who can’t afford that.”
Reeling out the programmes he had initiated to make lives easier for the populace after the subsidy removal, the governor said, “The state government is now running a free transport system to support our teachers and civil servants.
“We have also begun the distribution of N5,000 stipend to some poor masses. They will receive this for three months, just to reduce the current pressure. All these are just palliatives pending the time we will take concrete measures to address the current situation.”
Oyebanji, who described the subsidy removal as a good and beneficial policy, added, “President Tinubu asked us to tell you that subsidy removal is to make our future better, not to punish us. It could have been better if the past administrations had removed the subsidy. So, I plead with you to continue to pray for President Tinubu and my government.”
The governor added that apart from palliative distribution to the poor, those running poultry businesses would receive trucks of maize to make them thrive and contribute to economic development.
Ebenezer Boluwade, Commissioner for Agriculture and Chairman of the Palliative Distribution Committee, stated that the state had already received 3,000 sacks of rice from the FG and had given them to residents in the first batch.
He stated that this move demonstrated Oyebanji’s government’s power of sensitivity, empathy, and sympathy, implying that his administration could show compassion to residents in order to ameliorate the present effect of the economy on them.
