The Osun State Food and Relief Committee has said that the food items looted during the warehouse attack in the Ede, the state capital does not directly belong to the State Government.
This is contained in a statement signed by Bayo Jimoh, Secretary, Osun Food and Relief Committee and made available to AMILOADED on Friday.
“It has therefore become imperative to put the records straight in view of the falsehood and the misinformation making the rounds about the donated relief items. One, it is not true that the food items were hoarded.
“Two, the food items have no direct bearing with the State Government, as they are within the purview of the Food and Relief Committee,” says Jimoh.
Jimoh stated that the distribution of the items was supposed to follow a formal flag-off by the CACOVID Office in Abuja.
He added that the Osun State office do not have the authority to distribute the food items without approval from Abuja.
“Besides, the Committee is still expecting the rice component of the donated items, which is 40, 230 bags of 5kg. All these are part of the reasons the items were still in the warehouse up till the time of the invasion,” he stated.
Highlighting the donated items, Jimoh said ‘the following items were donated: Pasta FMN – 29, 992; Pasta OLAM -10, 282; Noodles- 80, 644; Garri -40, 322; Salt- 40, 320; and Sugar – 40, 227. However, the rice components of the donated items are yet to be delivered up until now.
Jimoh noted that the Committee wrote to CACOVID as recently as September 28, 2020, reminding it of the rice component, which is yet to be delivered.
He said ‘Part of the letter reads: “I wish to refer to our letter on the above subject and wish to request for the recent update on the rice component expected to have been delivered to the State, and also to seek your advice on the exact time the State should expect delivery, considering the fact that items already received into the Warehouse are food materials and are perishable with limited shelve lives.
“May I recall in our previous discussions that the delay experienced is due to increase in cost of rice and delivery, that the amount paid to suppliers could no longer cover cost of purchase and delivery to Osun. “
The Secretary stated that despite the letter, it is yet to receive a receive response from CACOVID office in Abuja.
Leave a Reply