The Federal Government has donated 17,600 bags of grains for distribution to the poor and deserving families in Gombe State, to mitigate the effect of the economic crunch in the country.
The Director-General, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mrs Zubaida Umar, said during the presentation of the grains on Thursday in Gombe.
Represented by Yakubu Suleiman, North-East Zonal Director, NEMA, Umar said the gesture clearly indicated the commitment of President Bola Tinubu towards improving the wellbeing of Nigerians.
She said the gesture would also cushion the effect of high cost of food items and the impact of the economic hardship on the vulnerable.
This, she said, is in fulfilment of President Tinubu’s promise to reduce the impact of the current hardship being experienced in the country.
“You will recall that in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda, Mr President approved the release of 42,000 MT of assorted food commodities from the National Strategic Reserve under the custody of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.
“The assorted food commodities include maize, millet, sorghum, maize grits and Cassava flour (Garri).
“After sharing the commodities and successfully transporting the quantities allocated to Gombe State, today we are here to hand-over the food items to the state government for distribution to the identified deserving beneficiaries,” she said.
Umar said the Gombe government received 4,840 bags of maize; 10,780 bags of sorghum and 1,980 bags of millet.
She said that effective implementation of the framework evolved by the Office of the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, would guard against diversion of the commodities.
According to her, NEMA officials are working in synergy with personnel of the Department of State Security Service (DSS) and anti- graft agencies to ensure that the commodities reach to the targeted population.
Also, the state deputy governor, Manassah Jatau, lauded the gesture, and assured that the food items would get to the intended beneficiaries in line with the distribution guideline set out by the federal government.
