Briefing newsmen at the NUJ Press Centre in Uyo on Friday, the Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Offiong Offor, said the rice, which will be shared among the 2,272 gazetted villages in the state, comprised the 24,000 bags sent to the state by the federal government and the additional 24,000 bags approved by the Governor, Pastor Umo Eno, to augment the federal supply.
Flanked by her counterparts from the Ministry of Information, Comrade Ini Ememobong; Ministry of Economic Development, Mr. Emem Bob; and the Chairman, Bulk Purchase Agency, Rt. Hon Dan Akpan; as well as the Media Consultant to the Governor, Mr. Aniekan Umanah, the Agric Commissioner disclosed that the Governor decided to augment the Federal Government donation as an act of responsibility to reach out to more families, rather than indulge in blame game.
Expressing Governor Eno’s gratitude to the government of President Bola Tinubu for its care and responsiveness in aligning with the current struggles faced by Nigerians, she indicated that through the intervention, each of the 2,272 gazetted villages in the state will receive 20 bags of rice, adding that the over 100,000 families from the social register who had either received or will receive free food items from the state Bulk Purchase Agency would be captured.
The Agric Commissioner described the distribution exercise as a short-term solution to mitigating hunger, food insufficiency and unavailability, emphasising that the long-term solution lies in the back-to-farm initiative backed up by the work-free farm days, targeted at enhancing local food production.
She explained that already, the state government, through her ministry, has implemented several strategic interventions, including the distribution of cassava cuttings, maize grains, pepper seedlings, and coconut seedlings to 135 public primary and secondary schools, 150,000
THISDAY
