I Focused More On Children, Women In Tackling Poverty In Osun - Aregbesola

Director General, Office of Economic Development and Partnerships (OEDP), Dr. Charles Akinola; Osun Governor-elect, Mr. Gboyega Isiaka Oyetola; Governor Rauf Aregbesola; Chief Bisi Akande; deputy Speaker of Osun House of Assembly, Hon. Akintunde Adegboye and the UNICEF Chief Social Policy, Mr Hamidou Poufon at the launching of Osun Social Protection Policy enacted into law in Osogbo, the state capital.

Osun State Governor, Mr Rauf Aregbesola has said that in his determination to tackle poverty in Osun, his administration focused more on children and women in its social protection policies.   

Speaking at the launch of some publications on the social protection policies of his administration held in Osogbo, capital, Aregbesola said many of the social protection programmes of his government were targeted at women and children.

Aregbesola said his administration also instituted a grooming programme at the grassroots under which women were trained in vocations and empowered to stand on their own.

The governor said “Our school feeding programme is basically a women empowerment programme. Under the school feeding programme, more than 250 million plates of food were served to 252,000 pupils daily at the cost of N70 per plate. We engaged the services of 3,007 community caterers to prepare the food for the pupils”.

“Each caterer was made to benefit from a government facilitated interest-free loan of N41,500 for the acquisition of cooking and other kitchen utensils. The loan repayment period is spread over 36 months, with N1,152.78 kobo deducted from their account every month.

“Our administration has provided more than N4billion as interest free loans in our micro-credit agency for micro, small and medium enterprises; majority of the beneficiaries are women.”

Director General, Office of Economic Development and Partnerships (OEDP), Dr. Charles Akinola highlighted the process that gave birth to the publications and the enactment of the Osun Social Protections Policies into law and commend UNICEF for its supports.

UNICEF Representative in Nigeria, Mohamed Malick Fall while speaking at the launch of the publications on Aregbesola’s social protection policies in Osogbo, capital of Osun reiterated the commitment of UNICEF to continue to support the state for the wellbeing of the people of the state.

Speaking on behalf of Fall, UNICEF Chief Social Policy, Mr Hamidou Poufon said Osun has maintained a good lead in the implementation of social protection programmes and promised more support for the state.

He said Osun has a long-standing record of social development having outperformed all other states as per the Multidimensional Poverty Ranking report of the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative 2018 that ranked Osun at first place nationwide.

He explained that social protection is increasingly viewed as an important policy component of sustainable development and has become a veritable tool for advancing the development agenda. He noted that Osun has maintained a good lead in the implementation of social protection programmes.

He said Social Protection provides support for particular social groups, reduce gender inequality and break intergenerational transmission of poverty if administered appropriately.

Among the notable personalities at the launch are former governor of the state, Chief Bisi Akande and the Governor-elect, Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola, deputy Speaker of Osun House of Assembly, Hon. Akintunde Adegboye and Osun deputy Governor-elect, Mr. Benedict Gboyega Alabi, the UNICEF Chief Social Policy, Mr Hamidou Poufon, the UNICEF Chief of Field Office, Ondo State, Mr Tejinder Sandhu and the UNICEF Communication Officer, Mrs Blessing Ejiofor.