…looted bags of rice funded by State Govt with N2bn, not FG
The Chairman of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Edo State Chapter, Apst. Gen. Dr. Irekpono Omoike said the vandalized residence where bags of rice were looted by hoodlums in Urora, in Ikoba-Okha Local Government Area of Edo State is owned by a vendor contracted by the Edo State CAN Implementation Committee for the Christian Feeding Programme.
Omoike disclosed this during a press conference at the Chancellery of the Catholic Archdiocese of Benin, in Benin City.
He noted that the Christian Feeding Programme which is in its second phase of distributing relief materials to vulnerable Christian Group was funded by the Edo State Government with 2 billion naira.
He said, “There is a very important issue to correct a wrong notion that is circulating that the rice being distributed by the State Government is rice supplied by the Federal Government and re-bagged. This is misinformation. It is a very wrong notion that needs to be corrected.
“Earlier this year, the Edo State Chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria had a meeting with Governor Godwin Obaseki where he shared his concern on how to reach out to vulnerable persons and the poor who are bearing the hardship of the economic downturn in the country.
“After the meeting, an implementation committee for the Christian Feeding Programme was set up where we designed a programme on how to reach out to the poor with food palliatives. The governor released the 1st batch of the funding for the programme, which is 1 billion naira to purchase rice to be distributed. This was done and in May 2024 we flagged off the distribution of the first phase at the Baptist Convention Ground in Benin City.
He said in the First Phase of the Programme 60,000 bags of 10kg rice were distributed, noting “In Edo South, 27,000 bags were distributed to the LGAs through the churches in Edo South, while in Edo North we had 18,000 bags distributed. In Edo Central, we had 50,000 bags. The total that was distributed in that first batch was 60,000 bags of 10kg rice.
Omoike noted, the “For the second phase, another batch of 1 billion naira was released by the governor to replicate the exercise. We purchased another consignment, distributed it through the structure of CAN. This process is ongoing since the month of July. In the last few days, we have successfully distributed to all the churches that did not receive the 1st batch across the 18 LGAs.
In this batch, we were able to reach 56,250. There’s another consignment in this last phase, just as we did in the 1st phase, meant for churches not under CAN, since this was really done in partnership with CAN.
According to the Secretary of the CAN Implementation Committee for the Christain Feeding Programme, Rev’d Osagie Ehrunmwunse, “the truck in the viral video where bags of rice were looted belonged to a logistic company distributing the rice. The truck supplying down from Ekpoma had a breakdown the previous night. The rice was meant for the Seventh Days Aventis, Letter Day Saints, vulnerable children, orphanage, widow among others.
“In an attempt for us to take that rice for safe keeping, that was when the products were looted by hoodlums. So that was exactly what happened on Thursday morning. Where the incident happened was not exactly a government warehouse. It is the house belonging to one of the suppliers of the rice for s distribution.
“We are happy that nobody died in the process, or got injured. But like Mr. Chairman was responding, it's disheartening to know that people have to twist the information by saying it's federal government rice.