SSG Promises Fairness, Transparency As Delta Govt Gets Set To Distribute Food Items, Agricultural Input To Farmers, Other Citizens
Secretary to Delta state Government, (SSG), Dr. Kingsley Emu, has assured that the state government would be transparent and fair in the distribution of food items and fertilizers to farmers and other Deltans to ease things for them sequel to the removal of petrol subsidy by the Federal Government and its concomitant economic hardships.
A statement made available to Team@orientactualmags.com on Tuesday noted that Dr. Emu, who said this during the meeting he held with members of the Delta state Farmers Association at the Government House, Asaba, added that the ‘palliatives’ would be distributed without ethnic coloration or political party affiliation.
He said 696 bags of rice had been shared in the state to cushion the effects of the fuel subsidy removal while adding that these were distributed along the DSIEC wards comprising 20 wards in each of the 25 local governments in the state.
The SSG said the physically- challenged, vulnerable groups and the absolutely poor families were considered in the distribution of the ‘palliatives’ meant to bring succour to them (beneficiaries of the palliatives).
Ahead of the distribution of maize and the agricultural input (fertilizer), Dr. Emu said only genuine farmers would benefit from the gesture of goodwill, while advising them not to pay money to anybody.
He disclosed that the committee put in place by the state government to handle the distribution of the ‘palliatives’ is irrevocably committed to ensuring that ‘palliatives’ from the federal and state governments get to the right people.
‘We have a template where we have categorized those who should benefit. The problem is that maize only constitutes just a small percentage of your total cost. So, that is what the committee will work on; to look at the percentage.
So, if we are giving you 20 per cent or 30 per cent, we expect you to transfer 10 per cent or 20 per cent to the end users. Even if it is possible for us to attach end users to a big miller, we will do that.
We can’t sit down here and start talking about pricing because pricing will involve how we got it and working out what percentage cost maize constitutes in your overall input.
It is very important, and you will agree with me, that you can’t work it out here. So, that sub-committee must engage people who can also work on cost and prices so that we are able to deliver on that.
Entrepreneurs don’t talk about brands; they talk about availability and the enabling environment. We understand the peculiarity of what you are doing. So, we are going to look at supporting what is on ground.
If we have facilities for preservation over the period, we will not have those harvest waste which is what we experience today. We will get your team to work with them. The state is interested in doing what is enduring that can mitigate this challenge that we see today.
We have started this programme with the rice distribution exercise which was very successful . We are working with a template where we categorized those who should benefit’ the SSG added.
In his remarks, the Commissioner for Agriculture, Hon. Perez Omoun, thanked the federal and state governments for the proactive steps taken to cushion the devastating effects of fuel subsidy removal on Deltans, especially farmers in different fields.
In their separate remarks, some of the farmers submitted that they were impressed with the foresight of the government and pledged to make maximum use of the items- Team@orientactualmags.com
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