Election outcome can’t stop food support scheme, says Oyetola

The Osun State Governor, Adegboyega Oyetola, has said the outcome of the just concluded governorship election in the state will not affect his administration’s food support scheme.

Oyetola spoke at the flag-off of the 16th edition of the food support scheme at the state government secretariat on Thursday.

The governor who was represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Prince Wole Oyebamiji, said the scheme will continue till the governor’s tenure ends.

He said, “You will recall that 16 months ago, we flagged off the food support scheme for the vulnerable citizens and we did say that as long as we are in power, we would continue this scheme. Election or no election can’t hinder the continuity of this programme and many others and the effect of the commitment is what you are seeing today.

“As of today, we are still in a Government and as long as we are in government, we shall continue to champion the cause of the masses of our people in line with the mandate. We must among other things ensure their welfare and security.

“We are in government and we shall continue to provide this welfare scheme. We have impacted about half a million households directly since the commencement. We are aware that agriculture is the mainstay of our economy. That is why we have been encouraging our youths to participate in the agriculture and go back to the farm.

“As a matter of fact, we have a responsibility to encourage them to do so. And those that are participating in the supply of this month’s food items are more than 24 groups of young, dynamic and hardworking local entrepreneurs.

“As you can see, we are distributing garri for this month edition and the purpose of this is to further encourage and promote local production and empower our entrepreneurs. This garri is produced by our people and that is the focus of our Administration. We expect our people to continue to support our Administration as we are committed to revolutionalising the economy of the state.”

While elucidating on the impact of the scheme on the local production and advancement of the local entrepreneurs, the Commissioner for Regional Integration and Special Duties, Engr. Olalekan Badmus, said the state government through the scheme had been able to build entrepreneurs to expand the scope of their businesses.