Tinubu fell into booby trap–Sara-Igbe, PANDEF chieftain
•Distribution of rice unreasonable concept—Nsuke, MOSOP president
•Party leaders hijack distribution in some states
•Others withhold distribution
BY GODWIN OBI
Confusion, anger, and weekend trailed the sharing of the truckloads of rice which the Federal Government promised each of the 36 States, and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja, as palliative, to soften the effect of the fuel subsidy removal on poor Nigerians
The National Economic Council, NEC, presided over by Vice President, Kashim Shettima, which endorsed the tranquillizer, penultimate Thursday, also approved the distribution of 40,000 bags of maize in addition to the N5 billion each to the states.
Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno State, who briefed State House correspondents, said the states were to purchase 100,000 bags of rice and beans, among other items.
Frontline investigation however, showed that there was ambiguity among the states on the N5billion grant and rice palliative. It was learnt that the federal government had credited states with N2 billion out of the promised N5billion, but did not explain the component of the money, creating misunderstanding among the states. The development prompted Commissioners of Finance in the 36 States to meet with the Federal Government in Abuja to clear the misconceptions.
According to our source, “the federal government credited the accounts of all the states of the federation with N2 billion each but the states do not know what the N2 billion is meant for. Therefore, the states want to know if the N2 billion component from the federal government is a grant, or part of the loan. This informed the reason all the Finance Commissioners, across the country, recently met with the Federal Government to get clarity on what to do with the N2 billion credited to the accounts of their respective states.
“In addition, the federal government did not deliver the five trucks of rice in full to the states as of Thursday. At the moment, some states have done nothing about the federal government palliative because there is no clarity from the federal government, and that has also affected the truckloads of rice”, the source added. Frontline learned that some states received two trucks of rice but withheld distribution until they receive the remaining three. Others were yet to receive theirs, but some have fully received their five trucks and in some states, party leaders hijacked the distribution.
A video was trending during the week to demonstrate the transparency in the sharing of the 1,200 bags of rice donated by the Federal Government for the people of Kwara State in 16 local governments, as part of the palliatives promised by the government to cushion the effect of the fuel subsidy removal.
In the video, the narrator informed the crowd that out of the 1,200 bags of the palliative rice, Adewole ward, which is one of the 12 wards in Ilorin West local government was given 8 bags and when it was further divided among the areas in the ward, Agunbelewo area, comprising several families got six bowls of rice which he put in the midst of the people as one of the bewildered residents asked; “how do we share this now? In Lagos, the distribution was accompanied by chaos. Such was the absurdity of the so called palliative measures by the Federal Government.
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