Federal government has handed 37,000 bags of assorted grains over to Borno State for onward distribution to the poor and most vulnerable residents of the state.
The items were presented yesterday to Governor Babagana Zulum at the National Emergency Agency (NEMA) Central Store in Maiduguri, the state capital by the director-general of NEMA, Mallam Zubaida Umar.
He said President Bola Tinubu approved the release of 42,000 metric tonnes of assorted grains from the national reserve to vulnerable households, and groups to cushion the economic hardship resulting from the fuel subsidy removal.
Represented by the Northeast zonal director of NEMA, Mallam Yakubu Suleiman, the DG said the 42 metric tonnes were in fulfilment of Tinubu’s promise to release food items from the strategic grain reserve in the custody of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security to vulnerable Nigerians.
“The assorted food items include maize, sorghum, millet and garri. Borno State is allocated 594 metric tonnes of maize (over 11,000 bags), 252 metric tonnes of millet (5,130 bags) and 9,972 metric tonnes of sorghum (69,409 bags)”, he said.
Responding, Governor Zulum assured the federal government that the food items would be distributed to the deserving most vulnerable members of society.
“On behalf of the government and the people of Borno State, I want to profoundly express our appreciation to the federal government under the leadership of President Bola Tinubu for allocating over 37,000 bags of assorted food items to our vulnerable citizens.
“I want to use this medium to assure the federal government that the grains would be judiciously distributed to the underprivileged and most vulnerable and deserving households in the state. They will not be diverted, I will ensure every deserving member of the society benefits from them,” Zulum said.
