…Say it’s first kind in Kwara
By Wole Adedeji, Ilorin.
The Kwara State government has begun giving financial assistance to the old and vulnerable people in the State as against the old Saraki ‘Ile Arugbo’ pattern.
The old type was said to be styled in the pattern of refugee camps manner where pockets of stampedes have allegedly occurred, leading to disturbing casualties.
The house, ‘Ile Arugbo,’ is the late Dr Olusola Saraki’s home where money was shared to old people in a manner some elites expressed reservations had been taken and partially demolished by the present government which is now a matter in court.
Meanwhile, the state government has designed a different largesse policy to the old people called ‘owo arugbo’ (old people’s money).
The difference between it and the one before is that the old people are organized in the 16 Local Governments of the state and appointed officials would go round to supervise the sharing.
In Patigi Local Government Area where the project kicked off, which the governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq described as the first of its kind in the history of the State.
The recipients who featured as the November/December cycle of the social safety commended the government saying, no administration had mapped out a deliberate strategy to reach out to the poor and vulnerable directly as is being done under the AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq administration under the Kwara State Social Investment Programme (KWSSIP).
Speaking, the governor said ‘Owo Arugbo’ is one of the four components of KWASSIP, which had been designed to support poor and vulnerable families, petty traders, and young people at various levels.
“At least 10,000 indigent 60-year-olds and above have been captured for the first phase of the anti-poverty measure”, he said.
The flag off of the disbursement of the nonrefundable once-in-two-months stipends of N6,000 in Patigi on captured to be followed with beneficiaries in other Local Governments who are slated to receive theirs as scheduled by the KWASSIP team.
Beneficiaries of Owo Arugbo, the conditional cash transfer (CCT) component of the scheme praised the governor for fulfilling its promises to the vulnerable.
The KWASSIP team which carried out the flag off also disbursed N10,000 ‘Owo Isowo’ (trader money) which is another people-oriented scheme designed for petty traders.
Some of the beneficiaries who spoke with newsmen in the Local Government commended the government for taking the bold step in alleviating their sufferings and pleaded for its sustainability.
One of them, Mayaki Gudugi of Patigi Ward 4 expressed delight over the gesture and promised that the money would be used judiciously.
“I am very grateful for this money given to me. I thank the government for this gesture,” he said.
