Subsidy palliative: Zulum targets 1.8 poor people for food supplies, cash

From Timothy Olanrewaju, Maiduguri

Borno State Governor Babagana Zulum said he targets 1.8 million people for food and cash distribution to alleviate the hardship and high cost of food triggered by the removal of subsidies.

Zulum disclosed this on Tuesday while flagging off the distribution of palliative care to thousands of men and women in Maiduguri, Borno’s capital.

He said the distribution of cash and wrapper to 8,000 women and foodstuffs to 5,000 male and female households in the state to cushion the impact of the current inflation, and high cost of living.

“We are doing this food distribution in line with the federal government’s rolled-out palliative meant to cushion the effect of the subsidy removal on the vulnerable citizens,” the governor told journalists at the Muna Garage, a suburb of Maiduguri.

He said the distribution of assorted bags of rice, beans, and maize, was the state’s response to the recent economic hardship triggered by the withdrawal of subsidies from petroleum products.

He explained the Tuesday distribution was the first phase, adding that about 300,000 households totalling about 1.8 million people are expected to benefit from the palliatives

Most of the beneficiaries said they suffered hunger in the past two months.

“Foods are very costly and we don’t even have money to buy them. We couldn’t get work to do to get money as most people complained they don’t have money to pay for labour,” one of the beneficiaries, Abba Mohammed, a casual worker and father of five, lamented.