Vulnerable homes in Akwa-Ibom State have been told to expect the distribution of 48,000 bags of rice, as palliative by the federal government to cushion hardship caused by various economic reforms in the country.
The move was disclosed at a press briefing at the NUJ Press Centre in Uyo on Friday, by the Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Offiong Offor, who revealed that the rice, will be shared among the 2,272 gazetted villages in the state.
According to Offor, 24,000 bags were sent to the state by the federal government. The additional 24,000 bags were approved by the State Governor, Pastor Umo Eno, to augment the federal supply.
The Agric Commissioner disclosed that the governor decided to augment the Federal Government donation as an act of responsibility to reach out to more families, rather than indulge in a blame game. Expressing Governor Eno’s gratitude to the government of President Bola Tinubu for its care and responsiveness in aligning with the current struggles faced by Nigerians, she indicated that through the intervention, each of the 2,272 gazetted villages in the state would receive 20 bags of rice.
Clarifying the modalities for the distribution of the joint federal and state government food intervention, Dr Offor announced that the exercise will occur at local government council headquarters, from where the council chairmen will ensure safe transportation of 20 bags to each gazetted village on a date that will be announced soon.
Subsequently, over 100,000 families from the social register who had either received or will receive free food items from the state Bulk Purchase Agency would be captured. Offor described the distribution exercise as a short-term solution to mitigating hunger, food insufficiency and unavailability, emphasising that the long-term solution lies in the back-to-farm initiative backed up by the work-free farm days, targeted at enhancing local food production.
In addition, Offor explained that the state government, through her ministry, has implemented several strategic interventions, including the distribution of cassava cuttings, maize grains, pepper seedlings, and coconut seedlings to 135 public primary and secondary schools.
Furthermore, 150,000 cocoa seedlings have been distributed to cocoa farmers, 40,000 palm seedlings to oil palm farmers, 80,000 pepper seedlings to vegetable farmers, and 20 metric tonnes of rice shared to rice farmers across the state, as well as livestock and poultry supplies to poultry farmers.
The interventions, she said, are additions to livelihood grants of N50,000 given to 1,560 beneficiaries and agricultural inputs and services to 900 farmers under the AK-CARES Scheme.
