From Maduabuchi Nmeribeh, Kano
Kano state Governor, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje government has launched the second phase of distribution of food palliatives to the poor and most vulnerable families across the five Emirate Councils in the state.
The flag-off was launched to commence distribution to eight Local Government Areas within Kano metropolis, while distribution of materials to hinterland Local Government Areas will follow suit.
Among the items distributed were 25kg bags of rice, maize, millet, cooking oil, noodles and sanitary soaps, cash, among others.
The distribution of the Palliatives is being coordinated by the Kano Fund Raising Committee on COVID-19 chaired by the Vice Chancellor of Bayero University, Kano (BUK), Prof. Muhammad Yahuza Bello.
Speaking during the programme, Ganduje commended the people of the state for supporting government initiatives at curbing the COVID-19 pandemic.
He urged them to continue to observe the prevention protocols and guidelines, saying the measures are yielding positive results.
Ganduje said, “what you see all I’ve there is a combination of two efforts—donation from the Federal Government o Nigeria by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari; and also part of relief materials by Kano state government.
“You have already been informed that this items will be distributed to 50000 households, not to 50000 individuals. Each household is made up of a number of members of the family.
“So, you can reason the number of people that will feed from these relief materials. We appreciate this very important programme.
” There are three pillars vested in this programme. The first pillar is to gather these food items and tht have been gathered.
“The second pillar is the identification of the poorest of the poor. We have no consideration to political affiliations. That is why the coalition of political parties have representatives in this Committee.
“That is why we are involving traditional rulers who are not card-carrying members of political parties. That is why we involved Imams who also are not card-carrying members of political parties.
“That is why we involved the who-is-who from the neighbourhood so that they can identify those who are really in need of these Palliatives. We have succeeded in that.
“Another pillar is the integrity and credibility of those that will distribute these materials. I am happy to say that the members of this Committee are credible in nature. We believe in their honesty, and we know they will distribute this material according to the guide line.
“So, we continue to pray to the Almighty Allah to bring more food items to the poorest of the poor. We assure you that immediately they finish this phase, the third phase will start because the materials are already available.
“We are already aware of the Coalition against COVID-19 (CACOVID) headed by Alhaji Aliko Dangote, the son of the soil. He has brought hundreds of trucks of food items. We have collected these food items and stored them.
“Very soon, the chairman of this Committee will assign his members to start taking these materials for packaging. I seize this opportunity to urge the people of Kano state to continue to maintain the protocols of COVID-19.
“This is the only way that we can protect ourselves. We have already talked about social distancing—–which is very important. We also talked about wearing of the face mask which everybody is using now.
“We also talked about washing our hand with soap and the use of hand sanitizer. These three important protocols is very important if we are to continue to protect ourselves from these deadly disease.
“I am happy to inform you that Kano state is working very hard in order to save the lives of the people. I assure you, we are succeeding because the number of people who are getting infected have reduced.
“The number of people who are dieing out of the disease is drstically decreasing. Also, the number of people who are testing negative, being recovered from the infection are increasing on the daily basis.
“So, we assure you, we will continue to be doing our efforts to ensure that there will be huge success in this fight against COVID-19.”
