Edo State Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Chris Nehikhare, has confirmed that the state government has received trucks of rice from the federal government after its initial refusal.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Mr Nehikhare denied on national television that the Edo State Government had received trucks of rice from the federal government.
“We are only receiving grains and garri from the federal government, not rice,” he had said on a live television programme.
The PDP-led government's denial prompted the opposition APC party in the state to accuse it of being “economy with the truth.”
The APC claimed that the bags of rice looted in Benin during the nationwide protest were part of the federal government's palliatives which the Edo State government had cornered.
Amid the controversy, the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Abubakar Momoh, clarified that each state, including Edo, received 20 trucks of rice.
At a press conference held on Wednesday in Benin, Mr. Nehikhare capitulated and confirmed that the Edo State Government received trucks of rice from the federal government.
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He said the federal government handed over the rice to the state with instructions that it be shared among IDP camps, orphanages and local government areas.
He said: “On the issue of the federal government giving us rice, I will tell you that a few months ago, maybe at the beginning of this year or at the end of last year or the middle of this year, they brought some trucks of rice.
“The rice was distributed according to the formula that it was sent to displaced persons camps, to different people and to orphanages. You should investigate.
“The Edo State Government did not touch any of the trucks.
“They were transferred directly to local governments and wherever their distribution was designated.
“The Edo State Government is not just keeping rice. We have spent N2.2 billion to feed our people.
“What can 20 rice trucks do when there are nearly seven million people in the state? How does that help?”
According to the commissioner, the state government has been providing free bus services since September as part of its anti-poverty measures.
“I will state categorically that the Edo State Government does not buy rice. It did not buy rice.
“What he did was provide N2.2 billion to the Christian Association of Nigeria to purchase food items – garri, yam, plantain and rice to give to vulnerable people, and that is a deliberate policy of the government,” he said.
(YAYA)