Our correspondent reports that government and private property had, on Oct. 24, been looted in some parts of the state by some hoodlums, hiding under the recent EndSARS protests.

Following the mass looting, Gov. Gboyega Oyetola had imposed a 24-hour curfew on the state same day and gave the looters 72 hours within which to return the looted items.

It was reported that the 72-hours ultimatum given to the looters elapsed on Oct. 28.

The governor directed the looters to drop their loot in places where they could be picked by government officials or at government-recognised and selected designations.

While returning the looted items to their respective owners at the Government House, Osogbo, Mr Samson Owoyokun, the Secretary of the Ad-hoc Committee on Recovery of Looted Items, said that 14 local governments were affected by the looting and vandalism.

Owoyokun, who said that the items were dropped anonymously by the looters, added that the committee had been going round to pick them up.

He, however, said that the task force was now on a house-to-house search to recover more looted items.

“The committee was inaugurated on Monday (Oct. 26) and we have since been going round the state.

Fourteen local governments were adversely affected by the wanton destruction and massive looting that took place on Saturday.

“We want to thank the governor for granting a 72-hour amnesty to all looters to return the looted items.

“We are working in conjunction with Amotekun, the Joint Task Force (JTF) and the police. We have been going round the nooks and crannies of the state to pick all the items that were dropped by the road side, in front of houses and we have been able to recover quite a lot.

“The people have heard and responded to the call by the governor; they have been cooperating and dropping the looted items in their custody.

“The Amotekun and JTF are on the streets now; we have intelligence report and video coverage of the houses and the neighbourhood where government and commercial items are hidden.

“The 72-hour amnesty offer is now over and so, we are going into houses for the search operation,” he said.

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Our correspondent reports that the hunters, who also wore charms, expressed their solidarity with the protesters.

The leader of the hunters, Mr Nureni Adisa, who spoke at the popular Orita-Olaiya Junction in Osogbo, said their aim was to ensure that the protest was not hijacked by hoodlums and to also prevent any loss of lives and property.

Adisa urged the protesters to be vigilant and alert to forestall miscreants and hoodlums infiltrating into their midst, and to identify any suspicious persons whose aim was to forment trouble.

He condemned the recent attack on the convoy of the state governor by suspected thugs in order to discredit the peaceful protest and cause havoc.

Adisa also appealed to the protesters to ensure civility and orderliness in their protest and not to take laws into their hands .

It was reported that protesters gathered at the Orita-Olaiya junction singing solidarity songs and carrying placards calling for an end to police brutality and extrajudicial killings .

The spokesman for the protesters, Mr Adebisi Emmanuel, assured that the protesters would not take laws into their hands and promised not to allow the protest to be hijacked by hoodlums or sponsored thugs .

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Prof. Toyin Ogundipe, the State Collation Officer announced at the INEC headquarters in Osogbo at about 12:25am on Monday that Buhari scored 347,634 votes.

Ogundipe, who is the Vice-Chancellor of University of Lagos (UNILAG) said Atiku Abubakar, the candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) scored 337, 377 votes.

He said the total number of registered voters was 1, 674, 729, while the total number of accredited voters was 732, 984.

Ogundipe added that the valid votes was 714,682, while rejected votes was 17,200.

He said the number of votes cast was 731,882.

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According to the report, the data was collected by the Youth Employment and Social Support Operations (YESSO) unit of the Federal Ministry of Finance in collaboration with the World Bank.

The News Agency of Nigeria recalls that in 2013, the World Bank provided 300 million dollars grant to YESSO to compile a nationwide Single Register targeting the poor and vulnerable in the society.

The register is meant to be the basis for selecting beneficiaries for targeted intervention programmes such as public workfare, skills for job and conditional cash transfers.

So far, the register has a total of 1,435 communities and 35,561 households made up of 190,235 individuals from eight states alone.

In the report, the indices to determine the poor and vulnerable include “unable to eat properly’’, “always in tattered clothes’’, “unable to send children to school’’ and “live in poor housing units’’.

The programme uses a combination of targeting methods, including geographical targeting, community-based targeting and the application of a “proxy means test’’.

The report showed that in gathering the data, the six poorest local government areas in each state were identified and once there, the poor and vulnerable were identified through community gatherings.

An official from the Federal Ministry of Finance, who pleaded anonymity, revealed the present administration’s intention to use the Single Register to source for the beneficiaries of its N5, 000 cash transfer scheme.

“Social investment is a big deal for the current administration, which is why it has budgeted N500 billion for social welfare in the 2016 budget.

“Using the Single Register, it plans to reach one million youths, poor and vulnerable; so, getting the register right is very important.

“However, most states have not indicated interest for the database to be compiled for them, and since we are operating a federalist government, their invitation in necessary,” the source said.

On the setback for the nationwide compilation, the source said that many states lacked the political will to let the process to be free and fair.

“In this exercise, from the governor down to the village chief, they have agenda. They want to hand us a list and we are expected to compute the names.

“On several occasions, a leader will not allow us to carry out our research because he wants to control the outcome.

“And, because we are determined to do the right thing, the work has been very slow,” the source said.

He also revealed the present administration’s plan to transfer YESSO and its Single Register of poor and vulnerable to the Office of the Vice President for effective monitoring.

The source added that YESSO would also work with the National Social Safety Nets Coordinating Office, directly supervised by the office of the Vice President. (NAN)

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