The Senator representing Edo North Senatorial District, Senator Adams Oshiomhole on Saturday said Dangote Foundation has donated 30,000 bags of rice to Edo State government as part of the Organization’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) towards reducing hunger in the State.
The two-term former Governor of the State disclosed this when he featured as a Guest on Channels Television nationwide Day 3 hunger protest by Nigerians.
Senator Oshiomhole criticised the State government for allegedly rebaging and rebranding the federal palliatives (bags of rice) with Edo State Government logo, a claim the State government and the leadership of Christian Association of Nigeria, had previously denied.
But, Senator Oshiomhole described a viral footage where some Edo residents living in Urora Community in Uhunmwode Local Government Area of Edo State looting bags of rice from a truck in Urora Community, Uhunmwode Local Government Area of the State as shocking.
He alleged that the rebagged and rebranded bags of rice, were not looted, but democratized by residents who discovered where the bags of rice were concealed by persons he claimed are bent on portraying President Bola Tinubu-led federal government intervention and policies in bad light.
Senator Oshiomhole said, “The federal Ministry of Agriculture sent 20 trucks of rice to Edo State. I saw on television that rather than give these bags of rice to the people; They were been rebagged; Putting Edo State government name on it, and they were not been distributed”.
“The people discovered the bags of rice where they were concealed. And they decided to democratize the distribution. If the Government could not distribute it, then the people had to take it. There is nothing that you can do about it. The rice is meant for the people”.
According to him, “This is heartbreaking that Dangote Foundation as part of its own Corporate Social Responsibility gave about 30,000 bags of rice to to Edo State Government.
“And I saw in those rice democratized by the people, the labels were been covered with Edo State government logo. Now, when you have some Governors behave like this, then you have to look inward”, Senator Oshiomhole alleged.
The former Governor of Edo State also revealed recalled his advise to the federal government through the Minister of Finance to begin to publish Federal, States and Local Government Allocations shared by the Federation Allocation Account Committee, FAAC in National Dailies and Television screens as from September 2024.
He also argued that the measure would enable Nigerians demand accountability from all tiers of Governments instead of paying attention to the Federal government alone.
“Nigerians should not just look at Abuja alone.
President Bola Tinubu has given so much money to States in the name of palliatives”, according to Senator Oshiomhole.
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