Ogun's N5bn palliative impacting lives of residents-Akinmade
The N5 billion Ogun State Intervention Palliative meant to cushion the effect of high cost of food in the country is already having direct impacts on the people of the state.
This was stated yesterday by Honourable Kayode Akinmade, special
adviser to the governor on media and information, while speaking on an OGTV current
affairs programme, The RoundTable.
Akinmade said through targeted interventions, the government
aims to address the current economic challenges by implementing a series of
phased initiatives to alleviate these burdens.
Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State recently announced a N5
billion intervention funds to cushion the effect of the rising cost of living
and inflation in the state.
The grant, according to him, is planned to be shared as
palliatives to cushion the effect of the fuel subsidy removal.
Dapo Abiodun
Abiodun said his administration acknowledged the current
hardship in the country, occasioned by the fuel subsidy removal and the
concerns raised from different quarters regarding the rising food prices
occasioned by depreciation of the naira.
Akinmade said: “Ogun is the first state to implement the
Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) Bus initiative to take care of transportation
challenges. The buses are currently positioned on strategic routes in the state
where people are meant to pay a token fee to cover a reasonable distance.
“The ongoing Educash
programme was planned to provide a one-off N10,000 education support grant to
100,000 pupils and students of public primary and secondary schools. The
ongoing exercise is done in a transparent manner such that the beneficiaries have
been full of appreciation of the gesture coming from the state government.”
He added that 50,000 students of Ogun State origin in tertiary
institutions across the country have been captured as part of the planned
disbursements of N50,000 grant to each of them.
The government, he said is also providing health insurance cover
for over 70,000 beneficiaries to include pregnant women, children, the elderly,
market women and other members of the informal sector.
“Pregnant women, under the Ibidero Scheme, would also be provided
free pre-natal care, additional N5,000 per birth and free post-natal care in
the state hospitals and primary health care centres,” he said.
Meanwhile, a staff of Zenith Bank, Celestina Appeal, earlier
today disclosed that Mr. Oladipupo Adebutu, the governorship candidate of the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 18th March governorship election in Ogun
State, applied for the production of 200,000 prepaid valve cards on 27th of
February 2023.
At the resumed hearing of the criminal charge against Adebutu
and others before the Ogun State High Court, the prosecution represented by
Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), called its ninth witness, Celestina Appeal, who is the
head of the department of card services in Zenith Bank.
In her testimony, Appeal stated that by a letter dated 27th
February 2023, Adebutu applied for the issuance of 200,000 prepaid cards which
he claimed were intended for distribution to beneficiaries of his empowerment
scheme in commemoration of the death of his mother Dame Caroline Adebutu.
The witness stated that the cards were subsequently produced and
delivered to Adebutu on the 7th and 13th March 2023, respectively.
She stated that the account to which the cards were linked was
not funded until the 16th and 17th of March 2023, the eve of the 2023
gubernatorial elections.
Meanwhile, the prosecution sought to tender the letter of
request written by Adebutu and his statement of account but his counsel, Gordy
Uche (SAN), objected vehemently to the documents being admitted having not
being certified.
The prosecutor, Rotimi Jacobs SAN, countered the argument,
saying that private documents do not require certification, citing different
cases.
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