Naira, fuel scarcity: Ogun distributes palliatives to vulnerable citizens

Worried about recent cash and fuel scarcity in the state and its effect, the Ogun government says it will be distributing 400,000 food items to the poor and vulnerable citizens across the state.

Speaking in a broadcast in Abeokuta on Friday, Gov. Dapo Abiodun said that the food items would be distributed through social investment officers in each local government area of the state to communities by the weekend.

Abiodun explained that the items would be the first phase of the palliatives.

The governor explained that the social intervention would provide some succour to the people, while apologising for the inadvertent hardship and inconveniences Naira redesign policy had caused.

“We attended series of meetings with stakeholders, within and outside the state, so as to find an urgent solution to this situation.

“Along with my brother-governors from the All Progressives Congress (APC), we met with the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Emefiele and also took the matter up with the President Muhammadu Buhari.

“Our prayer was that the old naira notes should be allowed to run along as legal tender with the newly redesigned ones until enough of the new notes are in circulation.

“Both of them assured us that the situation would soon be resolved in the interest of our people and the economy. We were convinced that this would be done expeditiously,” he said.

Abiodun appealed to security agencies to handle the current situation with more professionalism and deeper maturity.

“Indeed, these are trying times for all of us. I appeal to all of us to exercise patience because the much desired relief is around the corner.

“Let us give peace a chance,” he said.