Jigawa Workers Get N1.1bn Food Subsidy

Jigawa State Executive Council has approved the sum of N1.125 billion for the emergency procurement of additional food items of 12,000 bags of rice and 15,000 cartons of Spaghetti for onward sale to civil servants at subsidised prices.

The state commissioner for information, youth, sports and culture, Hon Sagir Musa, revealed this to newsmen on the outcome of the State Executive Council (SEC) meeting.

He said the procurement of the food items is part of the state government’s plan to establish cooperative shops in the 27 local government areas of the state to sell food items and other essential commodities to the civil servants at subsidised rates.

Sagiru said the modalities and framework had been developed for the establishment and management of the cooperative shops where civil servants can collect food items on credit and pay in installments.

The commissioner said the establishment of the shops was part of the efforts of Governor Umar Namadi to cushion the effects of fuel subsidy removal on the civil servants and also enhance their welfare for better service delivery.

He added that the council had approved the sum of N2.835 billion for the special Ramadan Iftar feeding programme across the state.

“The council during its deliberation approved a total of 609 feeding centres statewide with a minimum of two centres in each of the 287 political wards in the state and also one centre in each of the 10 tertiary institutions in the state,” he said.

“The council has agreed to provide three different meals (jollof rice, kosai and kunu) to a minimum of 300 people per centre. The free feeding will take place throughout the Ramadan period, which at the end we targeted to feed 3,836,700 people,” the commissioner declared.