The Osun State Government on Tuesday said it had commenced payment of stipends to 25,907 vulnerable citizens in the state as part of measures to cushion the impacts of the state-wide lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus.

The Chief Press Secretary to Governor Adegboyega Oyetola, Ismail Omipidan, said the governor had directed immediate distribution of debit cards linked to the accounts of the beneficiaries in a bid to ensure transparency, accountability and seamless process.

Omipidan explained that the governor approved the payment of N20,000 each to 15,289 elderly citizens and people living with disabilities captured under the Special Grant Transfer scheme.

He said approval had also been given for the immediate payment of N7,500 stipends to 10,618 beneficiaries who are vulnerable youths captured under Public Workfare programme.

Quoting the state Commissioner for Youth and Sports, Lawal Olayemi, who spoke in Ile-Ife, during the distribution of the debit cards to the beneficiaries, the statement said Oyetola was committed to the people’s welfare, adding that the gesture would go a long way in transforming the lives of the beneficiaries.


The statement quoted Lawal as clarifying that the disbursement of the funds under the SGT and PWF was different from the Federal Government Conditional Cash Transfer recently launched by the governor.

“This is a collaboration between the state government and World Bank designed to alleviate poverty, hunger and unemployment among the people in the state. We commenced the exercise in line with the governor’s directive to ensure that every beneficiary under the scheme get paid,” he said.