Deputy Speaker, Oyo State House of Assembly, Abiodun Fadeyi, representing Ona Ara State Constituency, tells WALE OYEWALE his reservations about the alleged shoddy distribution of Federal Government’s conditional cash transfer which recently led to a protest in his area, lockdown orders in some states, and the invitation of Chinese doctors into the country in the wake of the spread of COVID-19.
Some people in Ona Ara recently protested against an alleged shoddy implementation of the Federal Government’s conditional cash transfer; how would you react to the grievances of your people?
Yes, they held a protest. It was a non-violent protest against the said distribution of the conditional cash transfer funds. It all came to everyone of us as a rude shock because we did not believe that such a thing happened in Ona Ara.
So, we are waiting for the state coordinator to identify the people he gave money to. At least, somebody must know someone or a family that benefitted because it is supposed to be like a chain. Based on findings within my constituency in Ona Ara Local Government Area of Oyo State, nobody has come out to say they collected the N20,000 said to be meant for four months and said to have been given out to people. We have not been able to identify one person till date.
As I’m taking to you now as the representative of the people in Ona Ara, from the ‘babalojas’ (male market leaders) to the ‘iyalojas’ (female market leaders), to ‘kabiyesis’ (monarchs), and community development committee members, nobody has been able to identify the people they distributed the money to. That brought about the protest staged by the people. It was not just in my local government alone, people in other local government areas where the state coordinator claimed they had shared the money also protested.
Are you saying that the people’s action was justified?
Of course, when you claim to have done something for people, there must be evidence. If the Federal Government claims that they distributed money in Ona Ara but the people are saying they did not see anything like that, it is justified. It is left for the government to address the issue. This thing was possibly done in secret and not in the open. I asked the coordinator whether they made an announcement. Yes, because of security, he may not want to mention names, but some kind of enlightenment should have been done within the locality to state that they would be sharing money to some beneficiaries within the council area but that never happened.
You have described the arrangement as shoddy; how do you expect them to have gone about it the implementation of the programme?
When they said they were coming to distribute (the funds), I remember that there was a media report which said Governor Seyi Makinde was not happy with the way and manner the arrangement was done. Remember the bailouts that were given to the states some years back, they paid directly to the states. There is nothing wrong in liaising with the state government by saying this is what accrues to your state, and tell the Federal Government representative to liaise with the state to co-distribute it.
The situation is that it is the Federal Government that is distributing it; the Federal Government cannot know all those who are most suitable for the money. What we have requested from them is how they identified the poorest of the poor that they claim are on their list.
