Recession: Olusegun Mimiko’s palliatives to the rescue

It is no longer news that Nigeria’s economy is operating at a recession. With inflation rate currently hovering at a record 16.5, global oil price falling and the effects on Nigerians being real and biting, most governments at all levels now find it difficult to meet up with their wage bills and other necessary obligations owing to these and other circumstances. These have also badly affected the people’s purchasing power as prices of essential commodities keep rising far and above the reach of a majority of the citizenry.

There are no other incidents to highlight the extent of the reality of hunger in the land than the petty thefts especially of pots of soup even while on the fire taking place across the country, there were cases of such thefts reported in several areas of the city like Tanke, Basin, Offa, Kilanko, Sango etc. In each of these places, it was reported that, at least, five cases of stolen pots of soup were recorded in just a week. Rather than steal jewelry and cash, the situation is so dire that robbers now take to stealing pots of soup. On Sunday, 26th of June, 2016, at Singer Market, Fagge local government area of Kano state, one Mallam Yusuf Bala was reported to have left his son as “collateral” for a bag of rice he “bought” pending when he paid for it that same day. But it happened that the man never returned as promised and that he actually meant to use his son as an exchange for the bag of rice.

 When eventually confronted by the rice dealer, Bala confessed that his shameful conduct was instigated by hunger. The hunger is so much that even our security agents had to throw decorum to the wind when it was reported that men of the Nigeria Police Force and the Nigerian army engaged each other in a deadly clash over access to some 25kg bags of rice and semovita being distributed to citizens in Borno by the state government during the Ramadan period.

 This clash of hunger was reported to have left one officer injured while one lieutenant Idris was said to have been badly beaten by police officers for instigating the crisis. It took the intervention of major general Lucky Irabor, the commander of Opeartion Lafiya Dole, who was called in by the Borno state Attorney-General, Kaka Shehu Lawal, for order to be restored.

It is for reasons like these and others that one needs to commend the executive governor of Ondo State, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, for his recent palliative measures aimed at cushioning the debilitating effects of economic recession on the people of Ondo State. Moved by the plight of the people, Dr Mimiko kicked off his food palliative programme tagged Eto Igbe Ayo targeted at 100,000 women resident in all the 18 local government areas of the state irrespective of their political affiliation. This type of initiative is neither new nor a knee-jerk programme in the state but a deliberate and continuous fulfillment of government obligations to its citizens in fulfillment of its campaign obligations built around the Caring Heart Initiative of the governor.

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