Osun State Government said it would from Wednesday commence distribution of food items to residents as part of palliatives to cushion the effects of ‘sit-at-home’ order to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
Oluwole Oyebamiji, Secretary to the State Government (SSG), disclosed this in Osogbo on Tuesday after receiving voluntary donations of food items from WEMA Bank Plc and Cititrust.
Oyebamiji said Governor Gboyega Oyetola was delighted with the donations of the corporate bodies and assured that the state would make judicious use of the food items.
He said the state government would start distributing the food and relief items to residents of the state from Wednesday.
According to him, the food items would be taken to all the 3,020 polling centers in the state from where they would be shared with the people.
Oyebamiji added that the distribution would be irrespective of political party affiliation as the food items were for the welfare of all Osun residents.
In his remark, Zonal Manager of WEMA Bank in Osun, Adeyeni Adeniji, said the bank donated the food items to help cushion the effects of COVID-19 lockdown.
Adeniji said that the bank made similar donations to other states in the South-West in addition to donation made to the national COVID-19 relief fund as part of its corporate social responsibility.
He said the bank donated 3,000 bags of rice, many cartons of noodles and vegetable oils to the Osun government for distribution to poor residents of the state.
Adewole Adekunle, Cititrust Holdings Chairman of COVID-19 Response Committee, in his own address, said the company also donated 1,000 bags of 5kg rice plus cartons of noodles and vegetable oil to assist the state in giving palliatives to the people.
Adekunle said the donation was the first tranch of food items to be donated by his company to the state, adding that medical supplies and other food items were on the way.
Osun state was placed on two weeks lockdown on April 1 following confirmed cases of COVID-19 which had now risen to 20 in the state.
