Governor Seyi Makinde’s Remarks at the Flag-off of the Distribution of Food Relief Package of SAfER

Being the Remarks by His Excellency Seyi Makinde, the Executive Governor of Oyo State, at the Flag-off of the Distribution of Food Relief Package as Part of the SAfER Programme in Oyo State on Wednesday, 30 August, 2023.

I thought about how to start my remarks to you this morning as we flag off the food relief component of our SAfER Programme. And what came to my mind was, “Oro wa o gbejo wewe ka sa maa dupe.” Yes, oro wa o gbejo wewe, we believe in action. And not just any action, but sustainable actions.

That is why, while everyone else is talking about palliatives, here in Oyo State, we are talking about Sustainable Actions for Economic Recovery (SAfER). So, t’o ba bere lowo yin pe, nje won ti pin palliative, ke so fun won pe, aa se palliative ni Oyo o, SAfER ni a nse.

Beeni, we are here to deliver your SAfER package.

One thing about sustainable actions is that it takes proper planning and strategy. Some people have been going around on radio and social media asking where is the 3,000 bags of rice that the Federal Government gave to Oyo State. Others are saying, “Ah, the Federal Government gave them N5 Billion, won ti ko owo wa je.”

Well, we were one of the first states to acknowledge that the Federal Government gave us 3,000 bags of rice. I stated it in my newsletter on the 10^th of August. But we planned to distribute this Food Relief Package to 200,000 households. If you share 3,000 bags of rice with 200,000 households, can each family even get 1 cup? If we had rushed out to make naysayers happy, they would still be the first to rush to social media to put out videos of how small the package is.

So, we took our time to plan because both in the short and long term, we are thinking about securing our economy. We bought an additional 37,000 bags of rice to add to the 3,000 bags from the FG making a total of 40,000 bags. That is why each of the 200,000 poorest households will be getting 10kg bags of rice. We did not stop there, we also procured for each household 5kg bags of beans, 5kg bags of garri, 5 kg bags of elubo and 1 bottle of ororo. As you can see, most of the foodstuff we are distributing is what we produce locally which supports our farmers and traders and stimulates our economy. Shey a gbiyanju abi aa gbiyanju?

We have heard some people say, eh, is it only the poorest of the poor, everybody is affected. Yes, we know everyone is affected by our present economic realities, and that is why other components of the SAfER programme take into consideration other segments of our society. We are giving low interest loans to small and micro businesses as well as smallholder farmers. We are also giving enterprise support to our youth agropreneurs under YEAP who have established businesses. We are also providing transportation subsidies through the Omituntun Buses and supporting healthcare for 50,000 pensioners and 100,000 poor households through the provision of health insurance for one year.

Let me mention something about the inputs we are giving 10,000 farmers. In the past, people have sourced inputs which did not even affect the yield of farmers. They gave our farmers substandard fertilisers. But here in Oyo State, we investigated and ensured the fidelity of the inputs. So, as we distribute these inputs, we expect bountiful harvests in the coming months and years.  

This same careful thought was extended to delivering every other component of the SAfER programme.

Let me also use this opportunity to restate that we have not yet started using the Federal Government N5 billion facility. That facility comprises N2.08 billion grant, N1.92 billion loan to be paid back after a three-month moratorium in N120 million monthly instalments, and N1 billion support in grains. We will communicate to the good people of Oyo State how we will be using this fund. So far, the Federal Government has disbursed N2 billion.

Like I said at the beginning, Oro wa o gbejo wewe. We are here to deliver the SAfER Food Relief Package. So, I will now proceed to do a symbolic presentation to officially flag off the distribution of the Food Relief Package of the SAfER programme to the glory of God and for the benefit of the good people of Oyo State.

Thank you and God bless you.