COVID-19: Kaduna Govt. extends food distribution to additional LGAs

The Kaduna State Government says on Thursday that its food distribution to vulnerable groups in the state will be extended to additional Local Government Areas to reach as many vulnerable people as possible.

Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Malam Balarabe Abbas-Lawal, who is also the chairman of the Palliative Committee, told our reporter in Kaduna that the extension would enable more vulnerable people benefit from the gesture.

Abbas-Lawal explained that the gesture was to alleviate the suffering of low-income earners and people who live from hand to mouth but had been trapped by the lockdown.

It was reported that the distribution exercise began with nine pilot LGAs namely; Chikun, Igabi, Kachia, Kaduna North, Kaduna South, Kaura, Jema’a, Sabon Gari and Zaria.

He said that the distribution would be extended to Zangon Kataf, Sanga, Kadarko, Kaura Makarfi, Kudan and other LGAs in Northern Senatorial Zone.

Abbas-Lawal said one on the major challenges being experienced in the distribution, was the rowdiness in some communities as a result of poor planning by the cluster committees.

The SSG said that the committees were saddled with the responsibility of mapping, selecting and distributing the items to the targeted group, because they knew the vulnerable people in their respective communities.

“The committees comprise of religious and traditional leaders, community members, councilors and other critical stakeholders at cluster level.

“What we directed them to do after collecting the food items for their respective clusters, is to locate the identify deserving households and handover the items to them, preferable in their houses.

“They can also call a beneficiary to come to where the items were kept and collect for his households. This will have prevented the crowd and the rowdiness that was experienced in some locations

“We will continue this exercise until all the LGAs are covered and be making amendments from the experiences learned in going forward,” he said.

He insisted that the foodstuff being distributed was not for everybody, but for low income earners, particularly those living from hand to mouth who were worst hit by the lockdown.