The Ondo state government, on Thursday, assured that the distribution of palliative materials will not be a political party affairs, as religious and traditional leaders are being involved in the distribution chain.
The government also confirmed the receipt of the N2billion out of the N5bn palliative approved by the Federal Government for each state of the federation to cushion the impact of the removal of the petrol subsidy.
The State Commissioner for Finance and Chairman of the Palliative Strategy & Implementation Committee, Mr. Wale Akinterinwa, who stated this in Akure, disclosed that the state government has also received 5,700 bags of rice from the Federal Government.
Akinterinwa, who led other committee members to inspect the food items and agricultural inputs, said the state will be distributing 12,000 bags of rice to the people of the state.
The Chairman of the Palliative Strategy and Implementation Committee said adequate security measures had been put in place to curb possible looting of the rice received by the state from the Federal Government.
The Finance Commissioner flanked by the Commissioner for Information & Orientation, Mrs Bamidele Ademola-Olateju and the Governor’s SSA on Agric, Pastor Akin Olotu, said a special Committee has also been set up to include all spectrums of the society and to make the distribution easier, saying this is not a political party affairs.
Akinterinwa said, “We are here to inspect foodstuff that we intend to give to the vulnerable masses. We have gone around warehouses to ensure the foodstuff are in good condition. We will share them very soon.
“The Federal Government gave us 5700 bags of rice. The state has bought more than that. We will start sharing very soon. We put together a committee at the local government level.
“We have good representation that cuts across the spectrum of the society. We have gotten N2bn and hope they will give us the balance. They sent maize to us, but we received a small amount of maize, and we hoped to get the balance.
“The distribution will not be a party affair. That is why we put up the (special) committee. We have the CAN and Muslim representatives.
“We will be distributing about 12,000 bags of rice. We are also giving out packaged food items besides the rice. The packaged food consists of four different local food items.
“The inputs for farmers are ready. We have power tillers, pesticides, and tricycles to help move farm harvests to cities.
“We hope it will tackle the food crisis and bring down prices if the yields are good. We have supported the farmers to get certain things they need,” Akinterinwa said.
“That why we put up a committee that is not restricted to party members, already we have representative of traditional rulers, and members of committee in the Local government, even CAN representative are there, it is quite wide spread enough, the committee also have security Agencies representative as a member.
“The Farmers items covered a wide range of products, the machineries for Farmers would aid them in their farming business, we have pesticides, we have power Tillers, and lots of farms input, so that, it would help farmers to produce very well in the long run, it would help reduce food prices, we have supported them with certain things they need in which they might not be able to buy on their own, we have provided tricycles that would help move this harvest from farm to the city,” the Commissioner said.
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