Oyo state government has said that it rejected the 1,800 bags of rice meant as Covid-19 palliatives by the Nigerian Customs Service because they were truly bad and unfit for consumption.

A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Seyi Makinde, Mr. Taiwo Adisa, indicates that any claims to the contrary was a disservice to humanity and an attempt at endangering the lives of the people in the state.

The statement explains that members of the Food Security Sub-Committee of the Oyo State Covid-19 Task Force, after its meeting to review the palliative discovered that the bags of rice were not fit for human consumption as they had been infested with weevils that freely move about on every bags kept at the storehouse in the Secretariat, Ibadan. 

It reiterates that the state government neither intended to dramatize nor politicize the development on the rice

According to the statement, the Executive Adviser to the governor on Agribusiness, Dr. Debo Akande, who addressed the media on the issue clearly stated that if Customs could muster other bags of rice in good condition, the state would readily receive such.

The statement, however, notes that the immediate reaction from Customs, Oyo-Osun Command was a bit comforting that the bad bags of rice must have been picked from the wrong store and expressed readiness to immediately send in 600 bags to replace the bad ones.

The statement says the state’s team that went for the inspection of the 600 bags returned with another sad verdict that at least 30 percent of the 600 bags promised as replacement were also infested with weevils.  

It says the opposition All Progressives Congress, APC, in the state, which commented on the matter, was merely dabbling in what it knows nothing about. 

Nigeria Custom Service however in a statement signed by the Public Relations Officer Oyo-Osun Area Command, Abdullahi Abiola says NCS, as responsible government agency  could not turn round and be associated with giving anything that will negatively affect the people.

It would be recalled that Nigeria Custom Service through Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and in line with Federal government directive had given 1,800 bags of rice to Oyo state government as palliative to the vulnerable in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic.

Iyabo Adebisi

pub-5160901092443552

Related Posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *