Kaduna state government said 32,000 families from 12 Local Government Areas (LGAs) have benefited from the second phase of relief materials it distributed to low income earners and vulnerable people in the state.
Secretary to Kaduna state government, Malam Balarabe Abbas Lawal, said that 14 LGAs were earmarked for the second phase palliative distribution.
They include; Lere, Kudan, Giwa, Soba, Birnin Gwari, Kubau, Ikara, Makarfi, Kauru, Kajuru, Sanga, Zangon Kataf, Kagarko and Jaba.
He also said Birnin Gwari and Kubau LGAs were yet to distribute their palliatives but the food items have arrived their council headquarters.
Speaking in a statement he issued on Monday, Balarabe, who is also the Chairman of Covid-19 Relief Distribution Committee, said, ‘’the second phase minimised human discretion in the distribution exercise, which made it more objective and less rancorous.
‘’The list of benefiting households was drawn up from multiple data bases like the Federal Government’s Social Investment Programme and data from telecommunication companies, detailing individuals who recharge less than N100 per month in that locality.
“The Ministry of Health which had earlier distributed mosquito nets to people from the lowest rung of society, provided data of vulnerable and needy people,’’ he added.
The Secretary to the state government also said all the lists were further scrutinised and harmonised by cluster committees across the 32,000 clusters in the 14 Local Governments.
According to him, ‘’The cluster committees comprised two women, an Islamic cleric and a Christian clergy as well as a Councillor per cluster. In communities that are somewhat religiously homogenous, the faith-based representatives on the Cluster Committee reflected the two dominant sects of the religion in the area,’’ he said.
“Benefiting households were given coupons which they present before receipt of their package, to ensure proper record keeping and accountability. The coupons contain the names, addresses and telephone numbers of beneficiaries.
‘’In all, 32,000 households benefited from the exercise and each household got a package which comprised a 10 kg bag of rice or spaghetti, 10 kg bag of semovita or Gari, 5 kg bag of beans and one carton of noodles, including one 3 kg of vegetable oil,’’ he said.
“The market value of all the food items is N11,000 per package and they were put in white Kaduna state government branded sacks to avoid confusion.”
