Niger State Governor, Mohammed Umaru Bago, has described the private sector as a critical player in overcoming hardship in society.
He stated this in Minna at a ceremony for distribution of rice donated by Dangote Foundation as a national food intervention programme for vulnerable people in the state.
The governor who was represented by his deputy, Comrade Yakubu Garba, said poverty and hunger were multidimensional challenges piercing through the fabric of society.
He decried how poverty and hunger have shattered many families with criminal tendencies being manifested, pointing out that it is a menace that should be tackled quickly.
The governor highlighted the various efforts of the state government in achieving its desire of feeding the nation, and ameliorating suffering through various interventions like the subsidy on grains for Ramadan Fast among others.
He appreciated the Dangote Foundation for the gesture and assured that the government was working tirelessly to eliminate poverty and hunger while calling on other wealthy individuals and groups to emulate the foundation.
The group general manager, Dangote Industries Ltd Abuja Office, Alh. Ahmed Hashim, said the National Food Intervention Programme of the foundation started in Kano State recently with a target of one million bags of 10 kg rice to be distributed to vulnerable people in all the 774 local government areas in the country.
He said Niger State received about 30,000 bags of 10 kg bags of rice and the foundation decided to use stakeholders in respective states for the distribution to make the process easy and ensure that it reaches the target beneficiaries.
Alh. Hashim promised that the Dangote Foundation would continue in its quest to reduce hunger and uplift the well-being of the people.
