Residents of Chanchaga Local Government Area of Niger State have alleged the hijacking of palliatives procured for them by the state government.
Many of them claimed they had yet to witness the distribution of any grains in their areas four days after the process started as directed by the state government.
DAILY POST recalls that on March 15, 2024, the Niger State Government, through the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Binta Mamman, announced that it procured assorted grains worth several billions of naira to be distributed to all 25 LGAs, with beneficiaries to include internally displaced persons, emirate councils, religious leaders, security agencies and political parties, among others. To this end, Ramadan feeding centres were set up in all eight emirate councils, with emirs as coordinators.
Mamman, in another statement, declared a five-day public holiday from March 18 to 22 for the distribution of the palliatives across the state.
She explained that each LGA will receive 1,000 bags of 10kg of rice, 184 bags of 25kg of rice, 2,000 bags of 10kg of maize, 490 bags of 25kg of maize, 1,200 bags of 10kg of millet, 2,000 bags of sorghum and 775 bags of beans.
In a further breakdown, the statement said 21 LGs will receive a total of 7,079 bags of assorted grains, while Bida, Kontagora and Suleja will receive a total of 14,000 bags of assorted grains each, with 21,000 bags earmarked for Chanchaga LGA.
However, some of the residents of Chanchaga LGA who spoke to DAILY POST said they have been waiting patiently for the palliatives since Monday and up until Thursday, those assigned the task of the distribution had yet to show up.
“We believe the whole thing has been hijacked by those at the top, including politicians, just as it happened last year when the state government purchased palliatives to be shared to the people in all 25 LGs. We only have tomorrow, Friday, as the last day of the five-day public holiday for the distribution of the grains. When will the grains come?
“We are calling on the State Governor, Mohammed Umar Bago, to look into the issue of the distribution of the palliatives because something is wrong somewhere. We want the governor to know that we haven’t received the palliatives he sent to us and there is so much hunger in the land,” they stated.
Musa Kanko, a resident of Tunga in Minna, the state capital, said: “The question is, what do they intend to do with the grains bought by government worth billions of naira if they are not giving them to us?”
Halima Abdullahi and Comfort Musa, both housewives, said:” These politicians are out again playing the same game and it is unacceptable. We are being lied to again because, it is not possible that the government bought these grains and tasked people to share to us, and four days into the sharing, we are still waiting.”
In a related development, the legislators of Mokwa LGA have decried the way and manner in which the state government’s special Ramadan feeding programme is being handled in the council.
They alleged that the feeding scheme is under the control of the village heads of the area, leaving them and the council chairman out of the arrangement.
The House Leader of the Council, Abubakar Isah, said in an interview monitored today by DAILY POST on Power FM Bida, that legislators of the council are dissatisfied with the situation.
He explained that developments on the Ramadan feeding programme in Mokwa LG are a deviation from what is obtained in other councils of the state.
According to him: “Money for the special Iftar is not with the councillors, as being speculated in some quarters, but in the accounts of village heads. These village heads claimed to be chairmen of committees in charge of the process in the council.
“We are making this declaration public after receiving several phone calls from some of the stakeholders on the issue.”
Isah insisted that currently, neither the legislators nor the council chairman of Mokwa Local Government Area have any idea of the total amount sent by the state government for the special Ramadan feeding programme.
The council’s lawmakers called on the Niger State Government to urgently look into the process to correct the abnormalities.
Niger’s special Ramadan feeding: Residents, council legislators claim palliatives hijacked
