Details As Dapo Abiodun Digs Himself Out Of Trouble Caused By Covid-19 Relief Packages

Charles Oyelesi

Dapo Abiodun, the Governor of Ogun State has started getting it right with the sharing of relief packages in Ogun State.

The Governor and his team ran into troubled waters with the manner the relief packages meant to alleviate the suffering of the needy during the lockdown – to stem the spread of Covid-19 – were shared.

Members of the committees set up for each catchment area shared what was allocated to them per day and took to it back to the community development areas, groups or religious bodies they represent.

‘By the time everything is broken down, a street is allocated a package and rather than identify a vulnerable family as the beneficiary, they see it as a gift for an entire street and people got angry and rained abuses on the governor and his government’’ societynow.ng confirmed.

Insiders disclosed that the fantastic figure of 500,000 homes the governor disclosed that he would capture in the relief package scheme wet the appetite of many and heightened their expectation of getting one – hence the massive outpour of anger over ‘’a street getting just a single package’’

‘’Of course, you can’t take away the fact that bad politics came into play and Abiodun’s opponents stoked the anger of the aggrieved people against him’’ a source pointed out.

The situation got to a head when streets did open letters rejecting the gifts, claiming Governor Abiodun short-changed the people as videos of ‘’unbundled packages’’ smashed on the floor, destroyed based on the ridiculous amount that got to those who were given ‘’something’’.

‘’A good gesture turned into a mess barely 24hours after it started’’ a source confirmed.

But the Governor has turned the tide based on recent happening.

A massive deployment of ‘’proper communication’’ about those who are really targeted in the relief packages is changing the orientation of many people.

The disclosure that Ogun State boasts of about N7million residents and only those who are vulnerable are targeted in the 500,000 homes has relieved the anger in many.

A major step in helping Abiodun get out of the trouble caused by the relief packages is the change in distribution strategy.

Societynow.ng gathered that the Governor – and his team – has sidelined the ‘’committees’ that handled the first set of the relief packages and is currently getting trusted aides to get ‘’the job done’’.

‘’It is also a big boast that videos and images of the beneficiaries and how deeply they appreciate the gesture is playing heavily on the government-owned television station, OGTV and the social media platforms of the governor and his team’’ societynow.ng learned.

Societynow.ng gathered that these latter efforts have virtually dug Abiodun out of the bad blood created by the manner the first set of relief packages were doled out – except for the damage that the government is slow to face reality and always reactive than proactive to issues.

‘’It was an avoidable mess if only the Governor’s strategic thinkers had made the residents realize that they are targeting 500,000 homes of the needy out of about 7 people in Ogun state instead of making the 500,000 homes sound like targeting virtually all the state’’ a source pointed out.