Fewer than 420,000 people cutting across the 11 LGAs in Gombe State have been reached with the government’s food and non-food items palliation to alleviate the negative effects of the removal of the fuel subsidy.
The disclosure was made by the State Governor, Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, while rounding up the distribution of the Palliative items in the first phase.
The Governor said that the State has received the sum of N2 billion out of the N5 billion relief funds that the Federal Government allocated to States for the purchase of food items for distribution to vulnerable members of the public to cushion the effects of fuel subsidy removal.
He stated that the government awaits the receipt of the balance and the N1 billion worth of maize, which the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is selling to each state from the national strategic reserve.
Inuwa Yahaya applauded the Federal Government for providing relief funds to each state of the federation, of which 48% is a loan that will be paid back over 20 months at N120,000,000.00 monthly starting from November this year.
Assuring that his administration will ensure effective and judicious use of the funds, the Governor revealed, “We will set up a special committee under the Deputy Governor, Dr Manassah Daniel Jatau, to ensure effective distribution of the FG’s palliatives to the deserving people of Gombe State.”
The Governor also assured of his administration’s continued commitment to addressing the plights of the people.
“This exercise will continue; we will not relent in our efforts until our people are taken out of this difficult situation,” he stressed.
He said the palliative distribution exercise was the 8th in the series of interventions carried out by his administration, adding that he will not relent in attending to the plight of his people.
“I am not happy distributing palliatives to the people, I would rather be happy if every household in Gombe State would be able to meet their basic needs,” he added.
“Our intention is to ensure that the palliatives we have provided reach the most deserving people at the grassroots. We have provided an effective and efficient framework to achieve this by taking the exercise to the polling unit level. In every polling unit, ten beneficiaries have been selected from making up the 30 thousand beneficiaries for this phase”, he noted.
“Our ultimate target is to help not fewer than four hundred and twenty thousand (420,000) people in this phase”, he added.
He decried the lingering food crisis in the country, describing the ugly trend as a complex problem that calls for comprehensive solutions from all stakeholders, cautioning that the distribution of palliatives from the government will only provide temporary relief.
“Despite a series of palliatives distribution from the government, the problem of the rising cost of food commodities persists because that is not the way to go. Palliatives will not provide a permanent solution to the problem. It is, therefore, pertinent for all stakeholders to find a permanent solution to the problem.
He enjoined the beneficiaries to use the items judiciously, cautioning them about selling the items as this would defeat the intent of the exercise.
“Use the fertilizers and insecticides on your farms to cultivate what can sustain your families and avoid selling them out. Look for potential places suitable for dry-season farming and venture into irrigation agriculture. This is the way to go, as we cannot continue to rely on handouts from the government”, he said.
He used the occasion to call on farmers in the state to avoid selling their farm produce during the harvest period as the practice afflicts more hardships to the farmers and their families in the near future.
Earlier in his welcome remarks, the Secretary to the Gombe State Government, Professor Ibrahim Abubakar Njodi, thanked Governor Inuwa for his magnanimity in attending to the plight of his people at this difficult time.
“It is out of his sympathy and magnanimity that Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya moved to rescue his people from the grab of economic difficulties,” he said, calling on people to continue supporting the policies and programmes of the government.
In his address, the Executive Secretary of Gombe State Emergency Management Agency, SEMA, who is also the chairman state distribution committee, Abdullahi Haruna Abdullahi, said the committee has succeeded in inaugurating the LG-level teams and flagging off the distribution exercise in all the 11 Local Governments Areas of the state.
Mr Haruna promised to uphold the trust and confidence reposed in them by ensuring judicious distribution of the item across the state, explaining that the exercise will commence in earnest in every LGA that finished setting up its ward-level committees.
The chairman said the Items distributed include bags of Fertilizer, insecticides, rice, and spaghetti and will draw ten beneficiaries from each polling unit in the state as contained in a statement by Ismaila Uba Misilli, Director-General (Press Affairs), Government House
Gombe.