In the face of the prevailing economic realities, Gov. Dapo Abiodun of Ogun on Wednesday, rolled out palliatives worth over N5billion to citizens of the state.
Speaking at a news conference in Abeokuta, Abiodun explained that his government was not oblivious nor insensitive to the challenges being faced the citizens.
He appreciated the perseverance, patience and understanding of all the good people of the state, assuring that the present economic situation was just a transient phase that would soon pass.
He appreciated President Bola Tinubu for his continuous efforts in navigating the complexities of the nation’s economic landscape.
” The Federal Government is not only steadfast in its commitment towards creating a brighter future for all citizens, but is also trying hard to foster a society where prosperity and wellbeing of the entire citizens prevail,” he said.
Abiodun explained that his administration acknowledged the concerns raised by many of its citizens regarding the rising food prices and shortages, coupled with the depreciation of the Naira.
The governor said that the state was taking proactive measures to alleviate the impact of these challenges to guarantee the welfare, wellbeing and wellness of its citizens in this difficult time.
“We aim to address these challenges by implementing a series of phased initiatives aimed at alleviating these burdens on all our citizens.
” The state is providing a minimum of five exercise books for all 850,000 students in our public primary and secondary schools.
” We are providing a one-time N10,000 education support grant for at least 100,000 pupils in our public primary and secondary schools in the state.
” Providing all 27,600 indigent students in tertiary institutions nationwide with an education grant of N50,000 each.
” In health sector, we will be providing insurance health cover for over 70,000 beneficiaries to include pregnant women, children, the elderly, market women and other members of the informal sector.
” More specifically, for pregnant women, under our Ibidero Scheme, we will be providing free pre-natal care, an additional N5,000 per birth and free post-natal care in our state hospitals and primary health care centers across the state,” he said.
The governor added that the state would provide food palliatives to include rice and other food items for about 300,000 households across the state.
Abiodun said that the state government would commence offseting the backlog of inherited deductions of civil servants, saying that the government would be committing N500million monthly payment towards outstanding deductions.
” It is noteworthy that we have continued to pay N10,000 transport allowance to all civil servants for the last eight months.
” This brings our total immediate interventions as a responsible State Government to about N5billion
across all sectors of the state economy,” he said.
