Carry us along in sharing of palliatives – Deputy Minority Leader tells Ogun govt

Lukmon Atobatele, the Deputy Minority Leader of the Ogun State House of Assembly, has asked the executive branch to include legislators in the distribution of federally funded relief supplies.

As part of the efforts to mitigate the impact of the loss of the gasoline subsidy on the people of Ogun, the federal government has sent 30,000 sacks of rice, as reported by Infostride News.

Talabi further revealed that the federal government has provided the state with an undisclosed sum of money for this same objective.

Atobatele urged that the distribution of the food and money not be politicized or monopolized in a statement made accessible to DAILY POST on Sunday.

According to Atobatele’s comments to the SSG, the state government should “involve the State Assembly in the sharing of the palliatives meant to mitigate the effect of the subsidy removal policy.”

As the Deputy Minority Whip put it when praising the state administration for recognizing the donations, “members of the assembly are closer to the people in their constituents, thus the need to carry them along.”

According to him, “though the SSG assured that the distribution would have nothing to do with political or religious affiliations, it becomes political, if only the ruling party is made to decide solely, how to distribute the palliatives.”

The lawmaker said that “the Assembly should be involved in the distribution to ensure it gets directly to Ogun residents, whom the palliatives are meant for, and not members of the ruling party alone.”

Atobatele bemoaned the current difficulty, stating that it is difficult to provide the people with three square meals each day or meet their basic necessities.

We need to be dedicated and honest with the people through this difficult period. We must avoid turning this into a celebration.

We must ensure that the events of the COVID-19 era are never repeated. He advised that the identities of those on the committee that would make decisions on the distribution of palliative care be made public.