By Jacob Akintunde
The Ondo State government, on Thursday, said it has put in place adequate security measures around the warehouses housing items to be distributed as palliatives to cushion the effects of fuel subsidy removal in the state.
Wale Akinterinwa, Ondo commissioner for finance and chairman of the Palliative Strategy and Implementation Committee, stated this when he led other members of the committee to inspect the food items and agricultural inputs, however, said the warehouses were not looted and that the items would soon be distributed to vulnerable members of the society.
Akinterinwa said the state has received N2bn out of the N5bn the Federal Government would be disbursing to state governments.
He said the state has received 5,700 bags of rice from the federal government but would be distributing about 1,2000 bags of rice.
Read also: Subsidy removal: Ondo unveils palliatives for residents
The finance commissioner said a special committee was set up made up of all spectrums of the society to avoid the distribution becoming a political party affair.
According to him, “We are here to inspect foodstuff that we intend to give to the vulnerable masses. We have gone around warehouses to ensure the foodstuff is in good condition. We will share them very soon.
“The Federal Government gave us 5,700 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 we hope that 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 committee. We have the CAN and Muslim representatives.
Read also: Ondo govt sets up committee on subsidy palliatives
“We will be distributing about 1,2000 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, tricycles to help move farm harvests to cities. We hope it will tackle food crisis and bring down prices if the yields are good. We have supported the farmers to get certain things they need.”
