The Kwara State Subsidy Palliative Committee has said that no fewer than 230,000 people across the 193 wards in the state have benefited from the 10kg bags of rice distributed to cushion the hardship precipitated by the removal of fuel subsidy by the Federal Government.

A member of the committee, Dr. Saudat Salah-Abdulbaqi, disclosed this in Ilorin, the state capital while featuring on a Radio Kwara programme titled, ‘Matters Arising’ aired on Thursday.

She said the committee ensured that the foodstuff was distributed to the vulnerable people in the society.

Abdulbaqi, who is a member of the governing council, Nigeria Institute of Public Relations, maintained that the committee screened the list generated from each ward through the Local Government Areas to ensure that the palliative rice reaches the poorest of the poor in the society.

She disclosed that the palliative rice was meant for the first phase, while the committee had commenced distribution of subsidised maize in the second phase of the programme to poultry farmers to alleviate the sufferings of the masses and reduce the prices of poultry products.

Also speaking, another committee member, Mrs Binta Abubakar-Mora, noted that the distribution of the palliative rice was strictly monitored across the nooks and crannies of the state for transparency and even distribution of the item.

Mora stressed that the maize for poultry farmers isn’t free but subsidised, saying that the beneficiaries were carefully scrutinised while the payments were made through the state Internal Revenue Service.

In his contribution to the programme, the Permanent Secretary, General Services, Governor’s Office and Secretary of the committee, Mr. AbdulRahman Ameen, added that the committee met with key stakeholders, especially genuine farmers for the collation of names of their members to benefit from the subsidised maize.

Ameen explained that there was no preferential treatment in the choice of the beneficiaries, saying that they passed through a laid-down process for them to be captured.