The federal government has donated 19 trucks of rice to Kano State as part of measures to reduce hunger.
Maryam Shettima, a member of the committee inaugurated by the government to supervise the distribution to residents of the state, disclosed this in an interview with Arise Television on Monday.
“Nineteen trucks are sent to Kano, I am not sure of the figures that have been sent to other states but this is just the beginning. So imagine if 19 trucks of rice would be sent to Kano, how many more would be needed to be sent across the 36 states of the nation?” She said.
Mrs Shettima, who was dropped from Mr Tinubu’s ministerial list just before senate screening last year, assured that with the modalities already implemented by the committee, the palliative would get to the poor households and vulnerable residents in the state.
“The modalities implemented are quite incredible and I believed that with time, this will be applied in the rest of the zones in the country because it’s quite transparent, it’s doable and it’s honest.
“You can’t place better measures in place to ensure that this rice truly reaches the people that need it throughout the nooks and crannies of Kano State, throughout the nook and cranny of the North-west and Nigeria at large,” she said.
She was silent on the sizes of the bags of rice, which could be 10kg, 25kg or 50kg.
The Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibrin, had recently expressed concerns about alleged diversion of palliatives meant for the poor households in Kano State to personal use.
Mr Jibirin, who represents Kano North Senatorial District, chaired the federal government palliative distribution committee in the state. Two other senators from the state – Kawu Sumaila (Kano South) and Rufai Hanga (Kano Central) were members of the committee.
No diversion, favouritism
While responding to the concerns of possible diversion of the rice sent to the state, Mrs Shettima assured that the committee members would be fair in the distribution.
She said there would neither be cases of favouritism nor nepotism in the distribution irrespective of political parties.
“When you look at the composition of the members of this committee, you would realise that the government is really serious about the poor. It cares; It means business that these palliatives need to reach the targeted citizens.
“The most interesting thing is that when you talk of the composition of the committee, it cuts across party lines , it is irrespective of anyone’s party affiliation, so there is no favoritism, there is no nepotism.
“It is not just the deputy senate president who happens to be a member of the APC but there is also Senator Kawu Sumaila who happens to be senator from NNPP in that committee and there is another senator from Kano Central, Senator Rufai Sanni Hanga who is also an NNPP member, and also several House of Representatives members. Nothing encourages transparency more than being inclusive and carrying everyone along,” she said.
Mrs Shettima said more bags of rice would be distributed to the residents in the coming days.
“This government is purely concerned about the condition of the vulnerable and it is doing the best it can to address the issues. This is the second time this has been done and it’s just the beginning. More are going to come as times goes by,” she promised.
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