Gov. Gboyega Oyetola of Osun has ordered the immediate payment of stipends due to 25,907 vulnerable persons in the state.
The stipends were part of palliative measures to cushion the impact of the state-wide lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus in the state.
Mr Lawal Olayemi, the Commissioner for Youths and Sports in the state, disclosed this on Tuesday in Ile-Ife during the distribution of debit cards to beneficiaries of the stipends.
Olayemi said the governor also directed the immediate distribution of debit cards linked to the accounts of the beneficiaries to ensure transparency, accountability and seamless process.
The commissioner, who described the scheme as one of the best social intervention programmes in the country, said N20,000 had been approved by the governor for 15, 289 people living with disabilities captured under the Special Grant Transfer (SGT) scheme.
He added that approval had also been given for the immediate payment of N7,500 stipend to 10,618 beneficiaries who were vulnerable youths captured under Public Workfare (PWF) programme.
The commissioner, who maintained that the administration in the state was committed to the people’s welfare, noted that the gesture would go a long way in transforming the lives of the beneficiaries.
Olayemi, however, said that the disbursement of the funds under the SGT and PWF, was different from the Federal Government’s Conditional Cash Transfer recently launched by the governor.
He added that the governor had also ordered the immediate release of the monthly and quarterly stipends to the beneficiaries as part of efforts to alleviate the effects of hardship that the people were going through due to the lockdown.
According to him, the gesture will go a long way to promote the general well-being of the beneficiaries.
He said the scheme, which started in July 2019, was a partnership between the Osun government and the World Bank.
“This is a collaboration between the state government and the World Bank designed to alleviate poverty, hunger and unemployment among the people in the state.
“We commenced the exercise in line with the governor’s directive to ensure that every beneficiary under the scheme gets paid,” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that Oyetola on March 29 announced a total lock-down of the state effective from midnight of March 31 to stop the spread of the coronavirus.(NAN)
