Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Wednesday unveiled Eko Cares, a comprehensive response of the State Government to the temporary hardship occasioned by the global economic crises.
Speaking at the launch of the initiative held at the State House, Ikeja, Sanwo-Olu said 500,000 households would benefit from the comprehensive response.
He said the government aimed to touch directly about 500,000 households, saying that in the last six weeks, government had gone ahead to package food stuff, edibles, sacks which would be distributed through the local government, CDA unions, religious bodies and all various stakeholders that would ensure it got to the vulnerable in the society.
Sanwo-Olu said the objective was for the government to be able to ensure that food is not one of the issues that will continue to challenge the vulnerable in the society.
He stated that government must be able to show up well to “all of you and to be able to support you at this difficult times. But we can begin to see that even the tides are turning and it’s turning positively, so that is why we need to also commend the intervention from the President of Federal Republic of Nigeria, Bola Tinubu for taking the leadership from the front row.
“He has been able to pass on grains to all the 36 States from the federal government and today, we will also be distributing ours to all of you.
“You have also seen that Mr President did not fold his arms with his cabinet and just let us have a free flow of the issue of currency,” he said.
According to the governor, “Now we have seen that there has been a rebound and we have seen that the currency is now getting strengthen and naira is becoming a currency that we can truly be proud of now. Because it’s taking its proper pride of place.
“For now, we have now seen that all garri and beans sellers are not increasing the price just because dollar went up, because we have seen that the prices doesn’t have anything to do with dollar, even diesel is coming down.
“So, we have no excuse or whatsoever again, now we need to be our brothers keepers, we need to go out here and let people know that this government has tried because we didn’t leave this to you alone and the big one which concerns public servants and the people that are working is the issue of minimum wage that they said we should begin to work on.”
The governor stated that all public officers in Lagos knew that since January, they had continued to pay the wage award with a minimum of N25,000 and above what they were earning before.
“So what it means is that people that were earning a minimum N25,000 to N40,000 before will now be earning over N70,000. That is what they have been enjoying since January.
“So it’s important for people to know and for us to lay these things very clearly that this government has doubled up to ensure that at this difficult time, it has not left its citizens on their own,” he added.
Sanwo-Olu said “we are out here today again to assure that we are in government to make life better for you, to provide succour that is required, security of lives and property and to be an activator so that you can leave a decent life.
“That is what we have promised you and again today. And for anything in life, we both have roles to play and duties to partake, so as we are doing ours, we expect you to do your as citizens by ensuring that all of the things that we say we don’t want in our environment, let us shy away from it.”
Also speaking, Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotoso, said since his assumption of office in May 2019, Sanwo-Olu had always demonstrated a penchant for keeping his word.
“It is, thus, not surprising that “Mr. Talk and Do” is fulfilling the promise which he made during the media chat on February 22 – to unveil a comprehensive package of socio-economic interventions to reduce the current hardship in the land.
“This gathering is a continuation of the government’s bold efforts to lighten the burden of residents, especially the most vulnerable among us; the poorest of the poor; those who do not know where the next meal will come from.
““Eko Cares”, which is being unveiled today, is an aggregate of all the measures designed to ease the pain of our vulnerable citizens who have no one else to turn to for succour,” he said.
He said Eko Cares is being supervised by the Special Dispensation Advisory Committee on Social Interventions (SPEDAC), an eleven-man, non-partisan body set up to advise the government on the various initiatives lined up to help the poor weather the storm.
