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Paul Orude, Bauchi
Bauchi State Government has flagged-off the distribution of palliatives to beneficiaries across the 20 Local Government Areas of the State to cushion the effect of the coronavirus pandemic.
Governor Bala Mohammed launched the distribution at the office of the Bauchi State Agricultural Programme (BSADP), Bauchi, on Tuesday.
He said that the State Tovernment constituted a palliative committee under the chairmanship of Emir of Bauchi, Dr Rilwanu Suleiman Adamu, to source assistance in kind and cash to assist citizens who are groaning under the intense hardship arising from the negative consequences of COVID-19.
He said that the committee 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.
Governor Mohammed said that the committee made wide-ranging consultations with public-sprited individuals, corporate organisations, chairmen of business conglomerates as well as the Federal Government and other agencies.
He said that the distribution of relief materials is a significant milestone in the government modest effort in bringing succour and solace to the citizens who are victims of COVID-19, adding that the committee 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 colloborate 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 that 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.
On his part, a representative of the Nigeria Private Sector Coalition Against COVID-19, Dr Bello Ibrahim, said the forum is a joint initiative of leading private sector leaders and the Central Bank of Nigeria to galvanise urgent support in the fight against COVID-19 in Nigeria.
Dr Bello Ibrahim said the initiative in collaboration with the state government has laid out an elaborate plan to effectively and efficiently distribute 120 trucks of relief materials to target beneficiaries across the twenty Local Government Areas of the State.
‘CACOVID-19 are doing this to help the most vulnerable households that have been affected by the coronovirus outbreak.
‘We appreciate the assistance given by Your Excellency, Governor Bala Mohammed, Kauran Bauchi to the CACOVID-19 team in the fight against COVID-19 in Bauchi State and we look forward for your continued support and the details of the State-level roll out plan.’
The Emir of Bauchi, Dr Rilwanu Suleimanu Adamu , the Emir of Bauchi who is the Chairman, COVID-19 Palliative Committee, also insisted that COVID-19 is a real virus and enjoined critical stakeholders to join hands in the management of the disease.
He reaffirmed the determination of the palliative committee to be transparent in the distribution process just as it did during the total lockdown of Katagum, Giade and Zaki Local Government Areas of the State.
