The Lagos State Government on Wednesday began the distribution of 20,000 bags of food items to religious bodies in the state to cushion the effect of hardship in the land.
The distribution is being carried out by the state Ministry of Home Affairs and coming a few days after the hardship protest in the state and other parts of the country.
The state government had after the protests said it would roll out more palliative measures to cushion the effects of economic hardship.
Ten thousand bags, comprising 10kg of rice, 5kg of beans and 5kg of Garri, were distributed to the Muslim communities while 10,000 bags went to the Christian organisations.
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Speaking at the distribution held at the Lagos State Auditorium, Alausa, Ikeja, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Religion (Islamic), Abdullahi Jebe, said Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu had been getting palliatives across to various sections in the state, such as the Community Development Associations, Community Development Committees, among others.
“But today’s distribution is for the religious circles, the Muslims and Christians. We are distributing them simultaneously, we have 10,000 bags for the Muslims. Today, we are here to start the distribution, we were supposed to have done this, but because of the protest, we delayed.
“Today, we will be distributing 3,000 bags to the Muslims in the five divisions of Lagos, tomorrow (Thursday), we will do the same thing. We will continue with another 3,000 on Monday. We are also extending the gesture to other Islamic organisations. Each bag contains 10kg of rice, 5kg of beans and 5kg of Garri,” Jebe said.
In the same vein, Special Adviser to the Governor on Religion (Christian), Adebukola Adeleke, said the distribution of 10,000 bags of the Ounje Eko had started for Christian organisations and groups across the 20 Local Governments and 37 Local Council Development Areas of the State.
The Permanent Secretary, Home Affairs, Adewunmi Ogunsanya, commended the governor for the initiative to cushion the effect of the hardship in the land through the distribution of palliatives to Lagosians.
He disclosed that the 20,000 bags of Ounje Eko were being distributed, with 10,000 bags for the Muslim bodies and 10,000 bags for the Christian bodies.
“This palliative is an intervention to support the less privileged in the society. It cut across all sectors of the state. For the Islamic faith, we are distributing 10,000 bags to them and for the Christian bodies, we are distributing 10,000 bags to them,” he said.
Ogunsanya added, “We came to the auditorium because we want a centralised location. We will be giving 3,000 bags each day. Today we have a total of 94 organisations comprising Islamic organisations, NASFAT and others and those Muslim organisations that are ready to pick theirs are on the ground. Their representatives will come to collect on their behalf.
“It is important to note that the governor set up a Governor’s Advisory Council for this purpose. What we are distributing today is an offshoot of the Council.”
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