COVID-19 Palliatives: We’ve Touched Over 200,000 Households- Akeredolu
Gov. Oluwarotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State on Monday said that his administration had given palliatives to over 200,000 households since the outbreak of the Coronavirus in the state.
Akeredolu stated this during the inauguration ceremony of Coalition Against COVID-19 (CACOVID) palliatives distribution in Akure.
He noted that apart from the vulnerable that could move around, his administration had also reached out to the sick, pregnant women and nursing mothers to minimise the impact of COVID-19 on them.
According to him, the pandemic has adversely affected both the lives and means of livelihood of the people.
“To us, it can be likened to a state of warfare. We are fighting an invisible enemy.
“Many are carrying the ‘bullet wound’ without knowing and many are already sent to early graves and many more may still go unless we brace up and do what is right as individuals and communities,” he said.
Akeredolu explained that his administration was doing the best possible within the available resources to ameliorate the effects of the pandemic on the people.
The governor maintained that part of ameliorating strategies was the provision of food items as palliatives to the people.
He said that the items the coalition donated to the state would take care of at least 50,000 households across the nooks and crannies of the state.
Akeredolu noted that the delay in the inauguration of the ceremony was occasioned by the need for the exercise to be carried out in all the states of the federation at about the same time.
The governor, however, assured that he would ensure fair and equitable distribution of the items provided.
“Let me specially thank CACOVID), an NGO under the leadership of Alhaji Aliko Dangote and Mr Godwin Emefiele, Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), in their collaboration with the Federal Government of Nigeria in ameliorating the effect of the pandemic on the people.
“This is not just for us, but for the good people of Ondo State. What we have achieved in the past three years can only be possible with God’s intervention and your support.
“We have been in the office for about 42 months and have paid salaries and allowances for 48 months.
” The six months extra being the carry-over debt from the immediate past administration, despite our lean purse since we took over.
“We have been forced by COVID-19 outbreak to review downward, our budget just like every other state and the federal government, but nevertheless God Almighty has made it possible for us to continue to pay salaries and the implementation of our various programmes across the state.