With just days to the commencement of this year’s Ramadan fasting, the Sokoto State Government has stepped up plans to improve its annual Ramadan feeding programme so that more indigent people can benefit from it.
Governor Ahmed Aliyu, who dropped this hint, also assured that apart from improving the quality of food being served in the Ramadan feeding centres, the state is also determined to expand the feeding centres to areas where they don’t exist for the benefit of the needy, the vulnerable, and the less-privileged in society.
The state government has inaugurated N1 billion subsidised foodstuff stores for civil servants and other low-income earners as a pilot scheme across the state’s six metropolitan local government areas.
At a training workshop for the shop facilitators, the Commissioner for local government and chieftaincy affairs, Alhaji Ibrahim Dadi-Adare, described the initiative as a distinct one aimed at enhancing the well-being of workers.
Dadi-Adare challenged the facilitators to ensure transparency and adhere to stipulated guidelines to augment government efforts to sustain the programme.
At the pilot scheme shops at Dange Shuni, Wamakko, Bodinga, Kware, Sokoto North, and Sokoto South local government areas, the Committee Chairman and former Deputy Governor of Sokoto state, Alhaji Chiso Abdullahi Dattijo, said the pilot initiative was for state and local government workers and primary school teachers.
He said each worker is entitled to buy commodities worth 30 per cent of his monthly salary while he can also buy N15,000 in subsequent weeks.
According to him, a consultant was engaged to manage the online marketing platforms, which involve issuing credit cards, collating payments, and processing biometric registrations.
He said stores were already stocked, and commodities would be on sale at the designated places, adding that only registered individuals would be allowed to purchase the items.
The committee chairman stressed that deductions would be made from the workers’ salaries. He urged benefiting workers to cooperate with managers, approach the stores, and report any abnormalities to the committee.
Sokoto State Head of Service, Alhaji Sulaiman Fulani, overseeing this initiative, which is expected to provide much-needed relief to civil servants and other beneficiaries as food prices continue to rise nationwide, urged civil servants to conduct themselves responsibly during the purchase process.
He explained that buyers must provide a code number to receive a treasury receipt as proof of payment, after which they will be issued a collection receipt indicating the pick-up location and time.
