The Social Transfer component of the Oyo State COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (OY-CARES) is to benefit no fewer than 3300 poor and vulnerable households in Oyo during the 3rd phase of its implementation via the State Cash Transfer Unit.

This was disclosed by the State Coordinator Cash Transfer Unit, Mr. Akintunde Gbadamosi, during a day of Orientation Training for the third batch of Social Transfer facilitators of OY-CARES across the 33 LGAs in the State held recently at Plaza- De Haruna, Hotel, Oyo town.

According to him, the beneficiaries were drawn from all the 33LGAs in the State from the data mined from the State Operation Coordinating Unit (SOCU).

Gbadamosi said a cash transfer of N10,000 per month to the beneficiaries in the 3rd phase of the program would commence after the ongoing training of the facilitators.

The data from SOCU covers some categories of disadvantaged and vulnerable individuals ranging from aged, chronically ill, physically challenged, urban poor, and widows.

The State coordinator explained further that the OY-CARES program is an emergency operation from the Federal Government domesticated by the State Government which is designed to support budgeted programs of expenditures and interventions at the State level.

He added that the program targets existing and new vulnerable and poor households, in the agricultural value chain, Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs), affected by the economic crisis informed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The sum of #10,000/month is awarded to be given for a year to the Social Transfer component beneficiaries to aid their consumption and reduce stress. The transfer, which is card-based will be paid #20,000 bi-monthly”, he said.

It would be recalled that in 2019/2020, a global pandemic called COVID-19 ravaged the universe, with a large proportion of citizens, especially the poor and vulnerable households/ individuals facing challenges on multiple fronts such as losses of labor, income, food, insecurity, etc.

Mr. Gbadamosi stated further that the OY-CARES program is designed to run for a period of two years (2022- 2024) and is being implemented using existing structures at the level of the State and Federal Governments, without creating any add-on project implementation structures.

He stressed further that Oyo State Government in the first phase had 1,755 beneficiaries from 18 LGAs and 1755 beneficiaries from 15 LGAs in the second phase and now 3300 for the third phase from all the 33 LGAs on the delivery platform of Cash Transfer handling Social Transfer (ST).

Facilitators are trained on how to organize and deliver sensitization, data validation, and enrolment activities of Social Transfer at local government and community levels, ensure supervision and monitoring at the LGA level, and then collect, discuss, and possibly resolve reported grievances from communities over the ST process from community grievance persons in the community among others.

The Oyo State Government has kicked off the presentation of debit cards and disbursement of cash to 3,510 beneficiaries of Oyo State Covid-19 Action Recovery And Economic Stimulus (OY-CARES).

The Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Inclusion, Hon Mrs. Toyin Balogun, during the flag-off, stated that part of the agenda of the present administration is to contribute towards rejuvenating and redeeming the hope of the hopeless and downtrodden groups in the State.

Hon. Mrs. Toyin Balogun presented the debit cards and cash to beneficiaries of OY-CARES at the Ibadan North Local Government Area Secretariat, Ibadan on Friday.

She stressed further that 1,755 individuals from 18 Local Government Areas had benefited in the first phase of the program for a whole year and the remaining 15 LGAs out of the existing 33LGAs will benefit from this program and would enjoy the same benefit of N20,000 once in 2 months for the next one year.

Hon. Balogun added that the program (OY-CARES) is sequel to the COVID-19 pandemic, sponsored by the World Bank in collaboration with the Federal Government of Nigeria with counterpart funds from all State Governments, to ameliorate the economic pain that is biting hard on the citizens coupled with results of subsidy removal.

She therefore assured that the citizens of Oyo State will enjoy more dividends of democracy as the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Inclusion rolls out more socio-developmental policies and projects for the wellbeing of the people in the State.

Speaking earlier, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Inclusion, Mrs. Dolapo Popoola stated that 3,510 individuals will benefit from the whole program (1st and 2nd batches) of the social components of OY-CARES .

While stressing that the program is reaching out to beneficiaries through 5 components which includes Public Labour Intensive Work (PLIW) which deals with youths, Community Social Development Agency (CSDA), Oyo State Agribusiness Development Agency (OYSADA) for farmers, Oyo State Investment Public Private Partnership Agency (OYSIPA) and Oyo State Conditional Cash Transfer Unit that deals with vulnerable’s like widows, aged and physically challenged.

The Covid-19 pandemic ravaged the entire world leaving devastation of lives, inflation, crashed individual, state and national economies the world over in its wake.

The damage was so severe, so much so that the disposable income of all, especially the working class and the vulnerable became almost non existent.

To mitigate these negative effects the Federal Government in collaboration with all State Governments of the Federation came up with the COVID-19 ACTION RECOVERY & ECONOMIC STIMULUS PROGRAM which is intended to reflate the economy by increasing the disposable income/ purchasing power of the targeted demographic which are the Vulnerable and the Poorest of the Poor within our society.

The program has been customized by each State with the Oyo State version known as the OYCARES Program.

The first tranche of the OYCARES Unconditional Cash Transfers of N20,000 to each beneficiary every 2 months has been successfully implemented in 18 of the 33 LGs of Oyo State

The 2nd tranche of this laudable program is billed to kick off in the remaining 15 Local Governments with the distribution of branded ID cards and Debit Cards to all beneficiaries on the 1st of September from Ibadan North Local Government.

With the display of commitment to the continuation of this laudable program, it’s indeed evident that the Governor Seyi Makinde led Government is committed to ensuring a better quality of life for all citizens of the State across board, with no tendency, group or demographic left behind.

OYOCARES!

Truly, GSMCARES!!

Hon (Mrs) Toyin BALOGUN

COMMISSIONER FOR WOMEN AFFAIRS & SOCIAL INCLUSION

The Oyo State Government during the course of the week, reiterated its commitment to addressing the menace of vagrancy, street begging and other societal ills while it rescued a vagrant woman and her twin daughters off the streets within the Ibadan metropolis.

This was disclosed by the Honourable Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Inclusion, Hon (Mrs.) Toyin Balogun.

This exercise is in line with the agenda of the Governor Seyi Makinde led govt. to improve the welfare and wellbeing of the vulnerable and destitute in our society while ensuring that they are also beneficiaries of the Sustainable Development agenda of this govt.

During the rescue exercise which was duly supervised by the Commissioner, she stated that the State govt. is committed to rehabilitating as many as possible destitute and reintegrating them back into society as they are part of the citizenry of the State.

She stressed that destitute are not only homeless individuals that live on the street but they form part of the Poorest of the Poor/ Extremely Poor who lack the wherewithal to provide for their basic needs, hence the need for the govt. and society at large to stand in the gap by putting in place Safety Net measures until they are able to stand on their feet and get reintegrated back into society after becoming productive both to themselves and the society at large

Heartrendingly this vagrant woman has been spotted sleeping outside at the mercy of the elements and unscrupulous miscreants in different locations with her vulnerable, underaged twins who as investigations revealed, have never been enrolled in the school system.

The Hon Commissioner was able to elicit salient info from the young lady who as it happens was a student of Mass Communications at the University of Nigeria Nsukka before the vicissitudes of life altered her life trajectory.

The Hon Commissioner had earlier mandated the ministry staff to keep an eye out for the woman and her kids since a couple of weeks ago when she first received reports about the subjects but apparently, the young lady somehow got wind of the rescue efforts and changed location before she and her kids could be rescued.

Fortunately, a good Samaritan spotted them along the Jericho axis, the Intel got to the Hon Commissioner who swooped into action with her team.

A cordon was laid for the woman and fortunately the Commissioner was able to connect with her and peaceably evacuate her and her kids from the spot.

She was taken to a tertiary health institution which has requisite facilities for the treatment of mental health issues  where she is presently admitted for treatment and her kids were taken to a state owned facility from where they would be taken for treatment and then eventually settled back into the school system.

The evacuation exercise was carried out by the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Inclusion (the Hon Commissioner and her team from the Ministry; Barrister Ayoade the Director of Rehabilitation, rep of the Director of Child Welfare, Information Officer and others) with invaluable support from the CMD UCH Prof Otegbayo, Dr Abdulmalik and Mr. Tunji of ASIDO Foundation (an NGO involved in advocacy for and treatment of people with mental health challenges), Dr Bamgbose a mental health specialist with the UCH, the Vice Chairman of Ibadan South West LG Hon Adigun Adeniyi ( Atu) and his team, the Woman Leader of SW LG; Mrs. Sobodu, Hon Romoke Kareem, Hon  Olubukola Olayinka (Mayoress), Alhaja Seki Alakija, Alhaja Ronke Aderogbin, Mrs Bose Akindele, Miss Sile and others

The Governor Seyi Makinde led Government will not relent in its quest to improve on the quality of life of the citizenry across board without leaving anyone behind

The Oyo State Government indicated readiness to resuscitate the moribund  Breastfeeding Centre given the scientifically proven fact that children who are breastfed in the early stages of life develop better mental acuity and also, their immune systems are better developed to cope with health challenges which manifest early on or even later on in the life span of the individual.

The Honourable Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Inclusion, Hon (Mrs) Toyin Balogun stated this on Monday, during her commencement tour of all Government facilities both within and outside the metropolis under the supervision of her Ministry. Said tour commenced with a visitation to the Breastfeeding Centre and the State Family Court.

Mrs. Balogun stated that the Breastfeeding Centre, would be renovated and upscaled to improve on its internal and external ambience with the support of developmental partners.

The Commissioner stated that part of the mandate of the centre would be to create awareness on the best possible weaning practices to ensure that our children are eased onto solid adult fare in line with international best practices

Hon. Balogun however expressed bewilderment at the deplorable state of the facility which as is presently constitutes both a health and safety hazard. She stressed that as much as resources allow, the Government is committed to resuscitation of as many moribund outreaches/assets of the Ministry as possible.

She stressed further that the driving motivation of the Governor Seyi Makinde led administration is to improve on the quality of life of all citizens of the State inclusive of women, youth and children who are the future of our tomorrow and the society at large.

Corroborating the concerns expressed by the Honorable Commissioner, the Matron of the Breastfeeding Center, Mrs. Esther Oladejo, said there is need for prompt intervention in order to make the Centre habitable for the expected influx of children in view of the next academic session.

Hon ( Mrs) Toyin Balogun added that the center is strategically situated to cater for the children of both civil servants and non civil servant clientele.

She was of the belief that renovating and improving on the ambience of the centre will encourage all those parents who have taken their wards to creches located far away thus impacting negatively on time spent away from their desks and duties at the secretariat (for civil servants who are nursing mothers) to return .

The  Commissioner’s entourage included the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry; Mrs. Dolapo Popoola, some directors and staff of the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Inclusion .

E- signed

Hon. Dotun Oyelade

Commissioner for Information and Orientation