According to Prof Anthony Owan-Eno, secretary to the Cross River State Government, the state has acquired an additional N500 million for the palliatives committee to buy more goods to ease the effects of hard times brought on in part by the elimination of petroleum subsidies.Read full article
In a news release, Owan-Eno made the following list of the groups to which the bags of rice were distributed: Students (1000 bags), Religious Groups (800), Traditional Rulers (400), Trade Unions (300 bags), Labour Unions (800 bags), Civil Servants (800 bags), and Persons with Disabilities (200 bags).
Motherless Babies Homes, 200, IDPs, 800, Refugees, 800, Pensioners, Support Groups/IPAC, 1100, Security, and 100 of the National Youth Council are other organisations.
Ogeyi Odey, the director general of the Cross River State Emergency Management Agency, or SEMA, acknowledged that the agency had received the supplies and that distributions would start the next week throughout the entire state.
Odey outlined how the Agency already had a plan in place for how to cover all 18 LGAs, and he added that any organisation not on the currently approved list would undoubtedly be included in the future.
The SEMA chairman stated that the state's warehouses, which were burned during the EndSARS protests in 2020, had been fitted with large iron doors to preserve the supplies.
Odey refuted claims that she is being pressured to reroute the palliatives by government or APC officials, traditional leaders, or lawmakers.
She said that she had sufficient security coverage at the numerous warehouses in the state and elsewhere to support the distributions.
"I am not under any pressure from anyone, which is not true. I have not been forced to favour somebody by the government, a traditional chief, or top party officials.
"I only follow the State Governor's instructions, and he has since given his approval for how the palliatives should be administered.
She insisted, "Anyone or any groups not yet captured can get to the governor and he will advise me accordingly."
