Oyo Begins N8.63bn Palliative Distribution Today

Oyo State government will today (Wednesday) commence distribution of N8.63 billi9n palliatives to 200,000 vulnerable households in Oyo town.

The state’s Commissioners for Information, Prince Dotun Oyelade, Budget and Planning, Professor Babatunde Musibaudeen, and Women Affairs, Mrs Toyin Balogun who disclosed this after executive council meeting in Ibadan, said arrangements have been concluded for distribution of food palliatives to residents of the state tagged ‘poorest of the poor’.

They said the food palliatives included among other items 10kg bags of rice and 5kg bags of beans which would be given to each vulnerable household.

The Budget Commissioner noted that the 200,000 households by multiplier effect translated to about one million residents of the state expected to benefit from the exercise.

According to Professor Musibaudeen, the palliative budgetary framework comprises various segments including food, food security (agropreneurs), security apparatus among others.

He explained that the total cost budgeted for the state palliatives was N8.63 billion and out of the total cost, adding that the state government shouldered N5.9 billion cost while the local government shouldered N2.6 billion.

On the data relied on for the distribution of the palliatives to the poorest of the poor, the Commissioners for Information and Budget in their separate responses said data generated from Covid-19 had so far proved to be most reliable and would be used as a baseline template subject to future reviews after feedback received from the phase one of the exercise.