Barely a week after residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) looted a warehouse in Gwagwa-Tasha, President Bola Tinubu has directed the emergency distribution of grains to alleviate their living conditions. The president’s directive was revealed by the Minister of State for the FCT, Dr Mariya Mahmoud, during a meeting with area council chairmen and other stakeholders in Abuja on Wednesday, as an effort to curtail food scarcity in the country.
Mahmoud said a committee under her supervision has been mandated to ensure a transparent and equitable distribution of the grains within two weeks through the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA). According to her the committee consists of various stakeholders and has been cautioned against implementing actions that will hinder the initiative. She said: “Yesterday we received this letter from the Presidency through the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and we all know that some few days ago we were at Gwagwa-Tasha where our warehouses were attacked by some youths in that area and then all we have there has been packed including the roofing, the gates and everything, and machinery that we used to make some of the foods that we were keeping there.
Speaking further she noted that the Minister of FCT, Barrister Nyesom Wike, was addressed through the letter to call an important meeting with important stakeholders that were highlighted. “This is the reason that we called for this meeting. When we received the letter it said that it had to be handled in two weeks, so two weeks from the day we received the letter, and we received this letter on the 29th of February, Mahmoud revealed.
According to her, the ministry had been directed to, in implementing the strategy, include different classes of people, about 15, and the chairmen of area councils are number one on the list, noting that they are people at the grassroots.
Mahmoud listed members of the Committee to include: Chairmen of Area Councils, FCT Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Traditional Rulers, Department of State Service (DSS), Nigeria Police Force (NPF), Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Faith-based organisations, National Union of Local Government Employees, Nigeria Red Cross Society, Women Association, Persons with Disability Group, Youth Associations, Principal of Boarding Schools, Civil Society Organisations and the media.
