By Fola James
On Monday April 20, there was jubilation among the Oyo state government and its people that the state’s share of the 150 trucks of rice the federal government directed the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management to share to all the 36 states and FCT as palliatives to cushion the effects of the corona virus pandemic on the economy, have finally arrived.
Officials of the state government who received the items were: Executive Assistant to Governor Seyi Makinde on Agricbusiness, Debo Akande, Commissioners for Agriculture, Ojemuyiwa Ojekunle, Special Duties, Bayo Lawal, Youths and Sports, Seun Fakorede, Women Affairs, and Social Inclusion, Faosat Sanni and Local Government and Chieftancy Matters, Funmilayo Orisadeyi.
But few days after the state got 1,800 bags of rice from the federal government, it has rejected same on the basis that they were expired rice, unfit for consumption.
The Seyi Makinde-led government said it will not distribute expired rice to be consumed by his people.
The 1, 800 bags of rice were among 6,000 bags shared to Oyo, Osun, Ekiti and Ondo states as palliatives against the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
While handing the items to the state government, Helen Ngozi, the Area Controller, Oyo and Osun command, said the gesture was in fulfillment of the federal government’s directive to the management of the NCS to send palliatives to all states in the country to cushion the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic o.
She said all the 6,000 bags of rice were good for consumption, saying the customs would never mix expired rice with good ones.
“Each of the four states with the exception of Ondo will receive 1,800 bags of parboiled rice, while Ondo will get 600 bags.,”
She stated that Ondo State would get the remaining shortfall of 1,200 bags from Lagos office of the customs.
But it doesn’t seem the state government was swayed by her explanation that the bags of rice are still in good condition.
The committee set up by the state government, on a visit to the warehouse where the items were stored expressed its disaffection, insisting that they had been infested with weevil and were therefore unfit for human consumption.
The Special Assistant to Governor Makinde on Agri- Business Akande said the quality control inspection carried out by the state has failed to satisfy the items for consumption.
It was on this basis that the state government rejected the items, Akande said.
He stated that, “We received these items from the Federal Government via the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and we brought them to the warehouse and it was in the process of further inspection that we discovered that almost all the rice has been infested with weevils and some other materials and on that basis we formed a committee to re-inspect it again and so that can be definitely sure of what we have received”.
Akande said the bags f rice are not in good condition and it’s the responsibility of the state government to make sure that its people are in good health.
“We think this is not definitely in the position for consumption for human beings at this point in time and at such the materials cannot be distributed as parts of palliatives within the state.
We don’t want to start providing solution to a problem and then start creating another problem. We have inspected it and done a random selection and we have seen that similar things apply across board.
He appealed to the federal government to replace the items for the benefit of the people of the state.
Meanwhile, the magazine recalls that the Nigerian Customs Service, NCS had severally claimed that many seized bags of rice, kept in the Service’s warehouses have expired and unfit for human consumption.
The Source, however has not confirmed whether the expired ones were donated to Oyo state.
