Ondo disburses N160m empowerment fund to communities

AS part of efforts at improving the human capacity of the ecologically ravaged oil-producing areas, the Ondo State government has disbursed N160 million to students of tertiary institutions in the two river-rine local councils of Ilaje and Ese-Odo.The fund, which was presented to the 3,963 beneficiaries last week, was through the instrumentality of the Ondo State Oil-Producing Areas Development Commission (OSOPADEC), the agency saddled with the responsibility of bringing development to the oil areas.The agency is being funded with 40 percent of the statutory 13 percent monthly Oil Mineral Derivation Fund accruable to the state as an oil-producing state.Chairman of the commission, Debo Ajimuda, who presented the cheques at a one-day stakeholders forum, said the number of beneficiaries increased from 3, 031 last year to 3,963 in 2012, while the total amount disbursed also increased from N130 million in 2011 to N160 in 2012.He said when the present administration came on board in the state, students were being paid 12, 500 and the mode of payment was too cumbersome for the benefiting students and that this made the new board to set in motion machinery for the harmonisation and upward review of the award value and for changing the mode of disbursement.Ajimuda said: 'Today, apart from removing the disparity in the amount payable to undergraduates, we have augmented the value of the bursary award to N40, 000 for all categories of undergraduates'.The OSOPADEC boss also said the commission had adopted the electronic mode of payment in the last two editions in order to remove the stress and hardship attendant to manual mode of payment.He however said the stakeholders' form was put together to review the 2012 edition of the bursary in order to learn for future improvement.
Click here to read full news..