The Abia Government says it has observed the highest standard of transparency in the distribution of the Federal Government’s palliative materials to the vulnerable and specially targeted beneficiaries.
The Special Adviser to Governor Alex Otti on Policy and Intervention, Rev. Fr. Christian Anokwuru, said this on Friday while briefing newsmen on the tranches of the materials so far received by the state and the modalities for distributing them.
According to Anokwuru, the state received 16,800 bags of 50kg rice and 13,260 bags of 50kg maize.
He said that the maize was later exchanged with rice, bringing the quantity of rice received and distributed to 30,800 bags.
He said that the State Government also augmented the quantity with an additional 4,800 bags.
Giving a breakdown of the materials, he said that the state took delivery of 24,000 bags of 25kg rice in the second batch and allocated 19,524 bags to Abia civil servants from Grade Levels 1 to 8.
He said that 4,476 bags were distributed to persons with disability, Abia Correctional Center, Amaudo Itumbauzo Center for Mentally-ill Destitutes, Orphanages and widows, amongst others.
Anokwuru said that the distribution was carried out by his office, in collaboration with the Ministry of Women Affairs and the Office of the Wife of the Governor.
He said that the state also received 13,260 bags of 50kg maize and 3,196 bags of 25kg garri in the third batch.
He said that it distributed 601 bags of maize and 144 bags of garri to each of the 17 Local Government Areas (LGAs).
He said that faith-based organisations got 156 bags of maize and 38 bags of garri while boarding schools got 23 bags of maize and six bags of garri.
The governor’s aide also said that the state received 8,900 bags of Urea and NPK fertilizers in the fourth batch, which came in June.
He said that a guideline and dates for the distribution of the items to 15 LGAs had been mapped out.
He said that Aba North and Aba South LGAs, with minimal farming activities, were excluded.
He said the state designed the distribution plan to support farmers in both rural and semi-rural areas because of the importance of agriculture to the state economy.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Anokwuru was assisted at the briefing by the Commissioner for Agriculture, Dr Cliff Agbaeze, and Adviser to the Governor on Media and Publicity, Ferdinand Ekeoma.