No fewer than three thousand food vendors in Oyo state under the Federal Government Home Grown School Feeding Programme embarked on a peaceful work around Ibadan, the Oyo state capital city to declare their support for the re-election bid of President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
The said the peaceful walk became imperative to show solidarity for the president on the heels of the postponement of the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The food vendors who prepares meal for the school children from across the 33 local governments areas of the state said the school feeding initiative has not only helped them for means of livelihood as parents, it has also helped improve school attendance by school-age children in the state.
The vendors, mostly women also commended the All Progressive Congress (APC) led initiative as time-saving for farmers across the various sectors as the feeding programme has been helping to mop up farm produce that used to be in excess and discouragement to farmers.
Speaking at Oke-Ado were the vendors converge before hitting the street, the Oyo state coordinator, Mrs Ajobo Toyosi said they decided to endorse and declare support for Muhammadu Buhari because of the impact the Home Grown School Feeding Programme is having on their lives as well as on the children in promoting good education.
She also thanked the Oyo state governor, Abiola Ajimobi for agreeing to let the state be used as a pilot for the scheme.
Ajobo said, “We want to thank President Muhammadu Buhari that we are so grateful and we wish him good health. We the food vendors in Oyo state are so grateful for his kind gestures.
“As parents, we got the job to take care of our families and it is also good for our children from Primary 1 to 3, the school children numbers are increasing and they all happy staying in school as they eat free food.
“With all these, we are sure that President Muhammadu Buhari wants to increase and progress for all Nigerians. With this food, children come to school early and even stay in school and we are grateful, as parents and as the ones preparing the food for them.
“We the food vendors in Oyo state decided to use this rally to declare our support for PMB for his second term bid because we believed in him.
“We have over 3,000 vendors who are participating in the rally so that the whole world will know that we are solidly behind this government and President Buhari who has helped us to stabilize our lives.
“Agriculture is improving. Before now, when farmers in the farm make their product the excess that they don’t sell ends up as waste which often discourages them from farming. But when the FG started the initiative, farming has gone to another level and all farm produce are now in abundance and selling fast.
“We patronize the farmers and poultry producers who are always happy for creating the market to help mop up their farm produce. We are grateful to PMB for the efforts. We also want to thank Governor Abiola Ajimobi for allowing the state to be part of the first batch to accept the programme. We are really grateful because we are better for it.
Also, the state financial secretary of the group, Mrs. Bola Ajagbe, expressed happiness that despite not been a politician or card-carrying member of any party, she was shortlisted to be a beneficiary of the scheme.
She noted that the transparent and non-partisan nature of the selection of the vendors makes the initiative a truly national project in the interest of developing the people and the country as a whole.