The Oyo State Governor, Eng Seyi Makinde provides N1bn as loans for Small scale farmers, and Youths Entrepreneurs and Agriculture businesses (YEAP) at N500m each.
The Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Prince Dotun Oyelade, in a statement said that the loans are being midwifed by financial institutions and the Agricultural Credit Corporation of Oyo state.
The Commissioner said, the government’s plan to provide N500 million as loans to small and micro-entrepreneurs is also a foot and has reached an advanced stage with the signing of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) with seven microfinance banks across the state.
According to him, the food distribution exercise which is the first phase of SAfER consists of only 25 per cent of the food to be distributed to identified poorest of the poor in the state.
He said that henceforth the government will ensure that desperate and violent-minded people are not allowed to hijack the exercise from the organizers.
“These are long poverty alleviation plans of the state government that take immediate effect and that is why Governor Seyi Makinde has said that in Oyo state, we do not operate a Palliative plan, but SAfER plan, which is more enduring.
“On transportation, 46 buses have been provided out of which 31 of them ply intra-city routes in Ibadan, while the others ply other key towns in Oyo state at a very reduced cost.
“This transportation project has been so successful that private transport owners have had to complain about the reduction in government bus fares.
In phase 2 of the Food distribution project, Governor Makinde has assured the people that the little anomalies identified in a few areas will be corrected.
It was gathered that Governor Makinde ordered the deployment of over N8bn, which includes N2.6bn from the 33 local governments and this is the money that is being used to pay the bills of the SAfER initiative, while awaits the full complement of the N5bn promised by the Federal Government.
The Commissioner for Information and Orientation recalled that Governor Seyi Makinde said the people of Oyo State will be well-informed about what he will use the N5 billion from the Federal Government for.
