Osinbajo inaugurates distribution of food items to insurgency victims in North-East

chika ebuzor

June 8, 2017 9:28 PM

Osinbajo said the distribution of the food items would be made quarterly in all states in the North East.

Osinbajo in Maiduguri after the terrorist attacks

Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osibanjo on Thursday inaugurated the distribution of 30,000 metric tonnes of cereal to victims of Boko Haram insurgency under the Federal Government Emergency Food Intervention for the North East.

“I am here to flag off what will be a quarterly food distribution to Internally Displayed Persons (IDPs).

“By this, we are saying that our brothers and sisters in the North East our country does not take their suffering likely,’’ he said.

The acting president pointed out that the cereals to be distributed under the programme were locally sourced.

“Am particularly please to say that the cereals that we are distributing comprising sorghum, rice, beans etc are all grown by our local farmers.

“This has been the vision of President Muhammadu Buhari for us to grow what we eat and eat what we grow,’’ he said.

Osinbajo said that the distribution would be handled by officials of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).

“The food items would be distributed by officials of NEMA in partnership with State Emergency Management Agencies and our friends from the International Humanitarian Agencies,’’ he said.

According to Osinbajo, the food items will be distributed from house to house so that beneficiaries will not have to wail endlessly on long queues.

“We would depart from the undignified practice of forcing people to queue up for food, rather we will be distributing the food using door to door method," he added.

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Osinbajo said a voucher system would be used in the distribution for planning purposes.

He said “We are going to incorporate a voucher system which will make the distribution transparent and improve our data collection system.’’

The ceremony was attended by Governors Kashim Shettima of Borno and Abdullahi Abubakar of Bauchi.

The governors of Yobe and Gombe were represented at the event which was also attended by Alhaji Baba Shehuri, the Minister of State for Power and Mr Solomon Dalung the Minister of Sports.

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