He Ondo State Governmenton Thursday, it confirmed the receipt of 2 billion naira of the 5 billion naira approved by the federal government for each state to cushion the impact of the removal of the petrol subsidy on poor citizens.
This was revealed to journalists in Akure by the state finance commissioner, who is also chairman of the Committee for Implementation and Remedial Strategy, Wale Akinterinwa.
He also said that the state also received 5,700 bags of rice from the Federal Government.
Akinterinwa, who led other committee members to inspect food and farm inputs, said the state will distribute 12,000 bags of rice to the people.
He said security measures had been put in place to prevent looting of rice stocks.
He said that a special committee representing all segments of society for distribution has also been created.
Akintwriwa said: “We have toured the warehouses to make sure the food products are in good condition. We will share them very soon.
“The Federal Government gave us 5,700 bags of rice. The State has bought more than that. We will start sharing very soon. We created a committee at the local government level.
“We have a good representation that covers the entire spectrum of society. We have obtained 2 billion naira and we hope that they will give us the rest. They sent us corn, but we received a small amount of corn and expect to receive the rest.
“Distribution will not be a matter of parties. That’s why we created the committee. We have representatives of the CAN and of the Muslims.
“We will distribute about 12,000 bags of rice. We are also handing out packaged food in addition to rice. The packaged food consists of four different local food products.
“The inputs for the farmers are ready. We have electric cultivators, pesticides and tricycles to help move agricultural crops to the cities.
“We hope it will address the food crisis and drive prices down if yields are good. We have supported farmers to get certain things they need.”
The state government had previously cited operational problems and supply shortages for the delay in distributing the items.
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