In order to lessen the impact of the financial hardship, President Bola Tinubu has instructed Federal Capital Territory Minister Nyesom Wike to assist the rapid release and distribution of grains and palliatives to locals.
In an emergency meeting with stakeholders and the chairs of the six area councils in the FCT on Wednesday, Dr. Mariya Mahmoud, the Minister of State for the FCT, revealed this information.
She said the direction arrived in a letter to the minister of the Federal Capital Territory from the President via the National Emergency Management Authority. She also announced the formation of a committee to execute the directive in the upcoming two weeks.
On Sunday, a few inhabitants of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) broke into the Agriculture and Rural Development Secretariat’s warehouse in the Gwagwa-Tasha neighborhood of Abuja. They stole food supplies and caused damage to the structure.
Mahmoud went on to say that since the letter was sent out on February 29, 2024, they had just one week remaining to follow the instructions and make sure the palliatives were distributed correctly.
“Everybody knows how His Excellency, Mr President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has been going up and down to see how he will cushion the effect of the hardship in the country, especially, particularly the issue of food security. They have been having meetings through the Ministry of Agriculture and finally, we were able to get a lot that we have to distribute for our people, to tell us how Mr President has his people in his heart.
“So it was along this way that the Minister FCT, Nyesom Wike, was addressed through this letter, to call an important meeting with important stakeholders that were highlighted, which most of them are here, to see how we arrange some committees for transparency of the distribution of these palliatives that we are about to get, and then the preparation that we need to have, before these items are given to FCT for distribution,” she disclosed.
The Chairmen of Area Councils, the FCT Emergency Management Agency, Traditional Rulers, the Department of State Service, the Nigeria Police Force, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps, faith-based organizations, the National Union of Local Government Employees, the Nigeria Red Cross Society, women associations, groups that support people with disabilities, youth associations, boarding school principals, civil society organizations, and the media were among the people she listed as members of the Committee.