The Ondo State Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, has said that his decision to introduce the palliative scheme, otherwise known as Eto Igbe-Ayo, is informed by the sudden rise in the prices of foodstuffs in the face of dwindling economy.
Under the programme, foodstuffs are given freely to residents in the state to cushion the effect of the economic crunch on the people, occasioned by the fall in the price of crude oil in the global market..
The palliative programme is designed for the 18 local government areas of the state and targeted at 100,000 women, irrespective of party affiliation.
Mimiko said this when he hosted party stakeholders who came to thank him for the intervention from Ikare, the North Senatorial District where the programme was inaugurated on Tuesday.
He added that the initiative was in fulfillment of his promise to share in the joy and sorrow of the people when he was being inaugurated as governor.
Mimiko said he was concerned by the excruciating pains people were passing through after the country’s revenue from oil fell to about 65 per cent.
“And just as income is falling, the prices of goods and services are increasing. We, therefore, decided to embark on this initiative to help our people,” he said.
Mimiko said some of his government’s intervention programmes such as the Bus Shuttle, Mother and Child Hospitals and the Mega Schools were meant to assist the less privileged in the society.
Justifying the decision of the government for the programme, Mimiko said the declaration by the National Bureau of Statistics that inflation rate in the country had risen to 16.5 per cent, the highest in 11 years, contributed to his administration’s decision to start the free food programme.
Mimiko said, “A bag of rice which used to sell for N8,000 now costs about N 16,000, a litre of kerosine of N80.00 has jumped to N200, the price of petrol has increased from N87 to N145 per litre while diesel used to power our industries now cost N200 from its usual N150 per litre. Unfortunately, the quantum of money available to households has dropped.
“It is obvious there is hunger in the land and we, as a government, cannot pretend that this is not the case.”
He said the problem facing the country called for redirection and rethinking, insisting that the country should diversify the economy and re-invest in agriculture and solid minerals.
“I think both the individuals and the country must re-order their priorities and restructure the polity, if the nation must overcome her challenges,” he said.