Yobe state government has distributed food items to 5,000 elderly persons, widows and indigents in returnees’ communities across the state.
Flagging off the distribution in Buni Yadi town, the state governor, Mai Mala Buni, said the gesture was to meet the food need of aged households who could not farm or sustain their livelihood.
Represented by Executive Secretary of State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Dr Goje Mohammed, the governor said the beneficiaries were Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) that first returned to their liberated ancestral homes in Buni Yadi, Buni Gari and Kukuwa towns.
“Governor Mai Mala Buni directed me to identify the elderly and indigents returnees in Boko Haram affected communities, keep their data and consider them first whenever intervention like this comes in.
“Each of these beneficiaries is going home with 50kg of rice, 20kg of sorghum and 5 litres of cooking oil. This will at least put food on their tables and bring succour to their lives”, he said.
Goje noted that the beneficiaries, who cannot farm or fend for themselves and had lost their family heads to Boko Haram insurgency, are from worst hit local governments areas of Gujba and Gulani.
The Executive Secretary called on non-governmental organisation to invest into the lives of the returnees in the affected areas as peace had gradually returned.
He cautioned the people against selling items donated to them, adding that a monitoring mechanism had been employed by the agency to track those that wanted to convert the items to cash.
One of the beneficiaries, Hajja Aisha, appreciated SEMA for reaching out to them and thanked the governor for providing them with the food stuff to celebrate Eid-el-Kabir.
The Village Head of Kukuwa, Dika Bulama Ali, also thanked the governor for the food support and promised to ensure that the items get to the rightful owners.
“I wish the gesture will continue flowing in from government and Non-Governmental Organisation (NGOs) to improve the lives of our people”, he appealed.
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