*as 740 Trucks Of Rice Fail To Arrive Most States
“Don’t give money equivalent to governors” -citizens insist
Only a few states appear to have received the 20 trucks of rice palliative earmarked for each of the 36 states by the Federal Government and the issue is causing anxiety, Sunday Vanguard understands.
A survey at the weekend shows no northern state apart from Kano had received the consignment of rice while in the South-West, only Oyo claimed that the trucks had arrived.
In the South-South, Akwa–Ibom, Rivers, and Bayelsa States’ officials confirmed receiving the latest palliative while others said they had not arrived.
Delta State government said the rice had not been received as of Friday noon while Edo and Cross River States’ officials did not respond to inquiries.
The Federal Government had, last Monday, said it had allocated 740 trucks of rice to the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja.
Each state including the FCT, under the arrangement, is expected to get 20 trucks containing 1,200 bags of 25kg each and the rice is to be distributed to the most vulnerable in the society.
Meanwhile, citizens of Akwa Ibom State have called on the governor, Pastor Umo Eno to publish videos and pictures of when the state received the 20 trucks of Federal Government rice palliatives meant for the state.
In a heated debate on one of the popular WhatsApp platforms for Political discourse ‘Focus on Government’, monitored by our correspondents, an analyst; @ekpedeme ebongho warned against diverting the palliatives ‘as usual’.
“There was a time in this state (Akwa Ibom) the Federal Government palliatives was described by a governor as poisonous. That was during Covid-19. Nobody heard when the rice arrived. The next thing we heard, after months of secrecy was that the rice was poisonous.
President Tinubu must insist that governors, especially Akwa Ibom governor is not allowed to collect money equivalent of the palliatives rice so that such money would not be diverted to areas they were not meant.
“We want President Tinubu to note that we the people of Akwa Ibom State did not see when the ’20 trucks of palliatives rice’ arrived in the state”.
@joe ukam said “it will would be stolen as usual”.
For @utibe kk “if in few days time, the prices of rice do not crash in Akwa Ibom State, just know that the rice have been diverted. There’s no how 20 trucks of rice would be shared free of charge to people and it will not affect the demand”.