The Kwara State government commenced the distribution of 17,578 50kg bags of maize, sorghum, and millet palliatives on Tuesday, as provided by the Federal Government.

According to a news report from Punch, the food items are being distributed to the underprivileged across the 16 local government areas of the state.

The Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Community Development, Dr Lawal Olohungbebe, stated that the distribution followed a template from the Federal Government, with his office supervising to ensure the palliatives reached the intended recipients.

“The instructions given by the Federal Government is that there has to be a committee in each local government area that will oversee the items.

“The committee comprises the DPMs (Directors of Personal Management) in the absence of the chairmen of local government areas; traditional rulers; representatives of the DSS; ICPC; civil society organisations; National Youth Council of Nigeria; women groups; development officers; among others.

“These are the people that will take care of it in each local government area,” he said, adding that the distribution was directly being handled by the State Emergency Management Agency.

“So, what we are doing is just to ensure that it gets to the local government area. By the time it gets there, they will now identify the vulnerable ones among them,” he added.

Secretary for SEMA, Mallam Saadu Magaji, confirmed that the office recently took delivery of the items, and had started sharing since Saturday.

“These palliatives are for distribution to vulnerable people across the state. It is a Federal Government intervention in collaboration with NEMA and the Office of the National Security Adviser. It was around two months ago that we received them,” he said.

“We have millet, sorghum, and maize. Millet is 2,216kg, maize is 7,042kg, and sorghum is 8,320kg, which makes a total number of 17,578 50kg of the three items. They are shared across the 16 local government areas,” he said.

Speaking on the distribution exercise which, he said, commenced with six councils on Saturday, he listed Baruten, Kaiama, Asa, Ilorin East, Ifelodun, and Oke-Ero councils as the first beneficiaries. “On the 2nd of June, we gave out to Patigi, Edu, Oyun, Offa, Ilorin South and Moro. While the third part of it includes Irepodun, Ilorin West, Isin and Ekiti local government areas,” he added.

He described the exercise as smooth and rancour-free, commending the state government and other key stakeholders for their support towards identifying the target beneficiaries in all nooks and crannies of the state.

The Director of Personnel Management for Ekiti LG, Ayantola Mukaila, said representatives from each political ward of the council collected for their people while describing the distribution as transparent and rancour-free.

Another DPM from Irepodun Local Government, Comrade Saaduku Abdullahi, described the handling of the programme as perfect and lauded the state government and other key stakeholders.