Chairman of the Gombe State palliative committee, who is also Emir of Gombe, Dr Abubakar Shehu Abubakar III, has said that all palliative packages are meant for the poorest of the poor whose means of livelihood have been greatly and negatively affected due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
The explanation was made during the continuation of the distribution of the p[alliatives for Gombe LGA, on Saturday.
Shehu Abubakar said that the committee will spare no effort to justify the confidence reposed in it by the state governor, Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya, by ensuring that the relief materials get to the intended beneficiaries.
The distribution exercise took place simultaneously at the ten wards of Gombe local government area targeting 5,670 households drawn from the 189 polling units of the council performed at Ajiya ward in Gombe metropolis.
The Emir of Gombe said: “To those that are privileged to get the relief materials, I enjoin you to share with your neighbours no matter how little and to those that have not gotten yet, be rest assured that the exercise is a continuous process, so be patient.”
Secretary of the Committee, Barrister Mela Nunghe, who is also the commissioner for special duties, said that the Governor Inuwa Yahaya- led administration places much premium on the welfare of the people, particularly the less privileged and downtrodden in the society.
He further said that to ensure orderliness while the distribution of the relief materials lasts, beneficiaries had earlier been given coupons and will be presented with their food items upon presenting the slip to the officials.
The same scenario played out at the Kumbiya Kumbiya ward where beneficiaries took turns to collect their relief materials based on their respective polling units.
One of the supervisors and a foremost Medical practitioner in the State, Dr Yarma, described the distribution of the relief materials, especially at a time when residents of the state are preparing for the Eid celebrations, as timely and strategic.
One of the beneficiaries, who simply identified herself as Ummi, described the palliative as a soothing relief and expressed appreciation to the state government for the gesture.
Items distributed include rice, maize, millet, pasta, sugar and others as contained in a statement by Ismaila Uba Misilli, Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the Governor.
Meanwhile, an indigenous construction firm, Grandscope construction limited, has donated various food items worth millions of Naira to Gombe State government in an effort to support the administration to be able to cushion the effect of the partial lockdown imposed n the state because of the ravaging COVID-19 pandemic.
Speaking while receiving the items at the fertilizer blending company, the secretary of the Gombe State relief and palliatives committee, Barrister Mela Nunghe, thanked the company for the gesture which according to him is a motivation.
While calling on corporate organisations and public-spirited individuals in the state to borrow a leaf from Granscope company, he assured judicious distribution of the items to the most vulnerable among the people.
The palliative committee secretary also said that the items came at the right time in view of the importance of food in ameliorating the hardship occasioned by the lockdown in the state.
While presenting the items earlier on, the chairman of the company, Alhaji Tanko Isiyaku Gwamna, said that Grandscope deemed it necessary to make the provision in an effort to support the Inuwa Yahaya -led administration in fighting the coronavirus pandemic.
Tanko Gwamna, who stressed the need for all to show commitment in fighting the spread of the virus in the state and the country at large, noted that the pandemic posed a serious threat to humanity and the world economy.
He listed the items donated to include two hundred bags of rice, two hundred cartons of macaroni, two hundred cartons of spaghetti and one hundred gallons of palm oil and hundred galloons of turkey oil as contained in a statement by the senior special assistant, media and publicity to the governor, Ismaila Uba Misilli.
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