From Ali Galadima, Bauchi
The Bauchi State government has flagged off the distribution of palliatives to beneficiaries across the twenty local government areas of the state to cushion the effect of the COVID 19 pandemic in the state.
Bauchi State Governor Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed who launched the distribution at the office of the Bauchi State Agricultural Programme,BSADP in Bauchi yesterday, said that the state government earlier constituted a palliative Commitee under the chairmanship of Emir of Bauchi, Dr Rilwanu Suleiman Adamu, charged with the responsibility of sourcing assistance in kind and cash to citizens who are groaning under the intense hardship arising from the negative consequences of COVID-19 pandemic.
He said that the commitee was also mandated to distribute all sourced palliative materials, which include money and other items, fairly and equitably to all the affected citizens of the state, adding that the commitee swang into action by making wide ranging consultations to public sprites individuals, cooperate organizations,chairmen of business conglomerates as well as Federal government and other agencies.
The Governor said that the distribution of relief materials is very a significant milestone in the government modest effort in bringing succour and solace to the citizens who are victims of COVID-19, addi the commitee has decided a sharing formula, tagged”The food basket”, where a household is entitled to one food basket.
“One food basket contains the following rice 10kg,maize and flour 10kg, millet 5kg, sugar 2kg, spaghetti 1kg, vegetable and palm oil 2 litres.However, we are still facing the challenge of finance on one hand and high expectation to deliver on the other hand, we therefore have to be creative in not only managing our scare resources, but reaching out in way of partnership to institutions whose mandate provides window for us to follow orate and achieve meaningful results in dealing with our perculiar situation”
“You will recall that during total lockdown which affected three local government areas namely Katagum, Giade and Zaki, a total of 7,000 households in Katagum, 4,000 in Giade, 15,000 in Zaki had benefited from the distribution.Today, we are extending the gesture to all the 20 LGAs of the state.The commitee used estimated demography of the local governments for the distribution of the palliatives” he said
Governor Mohammed said, the relief materials received by the state Bauchi state government from the CACOVID commitee and other Federal government agencies include 269,350kg of rice, 100,500kg of maize, 320,000kg of beans, 795,000 pieces of spaghetti, 400,000 pieces of Indomine, 16,000 kg of salt, 292,934kg of sugar, 11,950 litres of palm oil, 150,000 pieces of Maggi cubes and 406,900 kg of millet.
