The Lagos and Borno State government are still yet to receive the 20 truckloads of rice from the Tinubu-led federal government.
Lagos State Commissioner for Agriculture, Bisola Olusayan and Director-General of Borno State Emergency Management Agency, Muhammad Saidu, said this on Thursday, on NTA Good Morning programme.
Recall that the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, after the recent Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, said the federal government sent 20 truckloads of rice to each of the 36 states of the federation for onward distribution to vulnerable citizens.
Idris said each of the truckloads of rice contained 1,200 bags of 25kg rice. He said the consignment was a step by the federal government to provide support to all the sub-nationals.
The Minister noted that state governments were expected to distribute the commodity to bring down the current hardship in the country.
However, Lagos State Commissioner for Agriculture, Bisola Olusayan, said the last palliative the state received from the federal government was in April/May.
Olusayan said, “We had received some palliatives from the federal government few months back in April/ May. We are expecting another consignment which we heard, which everybody heard it is a 20 truckloads of rice which we have not received yet. We have not received it yet.”
On his part, Borno State SEMA DG, Barkindo Muhammad Saidu, said, “We are yet to receive it but we have gotten information that it is on the way. That is why we have started positioning ourselves before it comes for instant distribution.”
Speaking on how the state would distribute the rice to the vulnerable, Olusayan said Lagos State government has a social register that has about 2.8 million Lagos residents.
She added that community leaders would be involved to ensure the rice reach the vulnerable residents of the state. She said the state usually rebags the rice in 10kg bags to ensure it gets to more vulnerable residents
On his part. Saidu said Borno State adopts the distribution template used in giving palliatives to internally displaced persons.
He added that while most of the internally displaced persons have gone out of the internally displaced camps, the state government has data on how they can be reached.
