The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Farouq has said she has distributed 279 trucks of grains to states affected by the lockdown order of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Buhari had approved the release of 70,000 metric tonnes of grains for distribution to the poor and vulnerable to cushion the impact of the lockdown order in affected states.
The minister also said she was yet to get the 70,000 metric tonnes approved by President because the grains are enormous and she lacks space to keep them.
She also dismissed the claim that two members of a particular household benefitted from the Conditional Cash Transfer disbursed to poor and vulnerable households by the federal government, describing it as “impossible”.
Speaking on Tuesday at the daily briefing by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, Farouq said: “70,000 grains were approved by Mr. President that it should be given to the PTF through the ministry and to be distributed to the three affected lockdown states by the federal government and then to other frontline states.
“So far, we have deployed 279 trucks of grains to the three affected states locked down by the federal government and we are making plans for the next deployment to other frontline states.
She added: “We have not taken all the 70,000 metric tonnes of grains. So, we still have some grains in the silos because metric tonnes is quite a huge number. 2000 metric tonnes alone will require nothing less than 80 trucks to deploy, so it is quite a huge number and there is nowhere we can put these grains. We have to leave them in the silos and be deployed as the need arises.”
Reacting to a viral video of a lady who claimed that two members of her household benefitted from the Conditional Cash Transfer disbursed by the federal government to beneficiaries in various states, she said: “I think this is near impossible because the process involved is very tedious as it involves all critical stakeholders in the community.
The community leaders, leaders of faith-based organisations, youth leaders, women leaders, and others are involved in drawing up the list of the poor and vulnerable households in that community.
“The groups submit a list individually and if you go through the list and discover that a name that is not on a particular group’s list is on other people’s list, it disqualifies such a person. So, it is almost impossible for the same members of a household to get this intervention but we will go back and investigate very well.”
The minister also hinted that the food relief distributed to some beneficiaries will last them for two months.
“The federal government’s palliative is for a minimum of two months for the food relief and the cash transfer. I think we have been able to adequately cater for these vulnerable groups by giving them the two months package.