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General News of Tuesday, 28 April 2020

Source: www.mynigeria.com

Rice donated by FG unsafe - Akwa Ibom Governor, Emmanuel Udom

Emmanuel Udom Emmanuel Udom

Governor Emmanuel Udom of Akwa Ibom State has said that the 1,800 bags of rice donated by the Federal Government as palliatives may not be safe for consumption.

The governor who spoke at a press briefing yesterday stated that he has sent the bags of rice for testing and awaits the result before deciding on distributing to people to help cushion the effect of the lockdown order.

“The only palliative we have gotten from the Federal Government is 1,800 bags of custom bonded warehouse rice. As I am taking to you, the rice is in the warehouse. It is a gift. We have sent it for test and until the test result is out, we will not distribute it to our citizens. It is not good for consumption,” he said.

Udom made this known just hours after Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State revealed that the bags of rice received by the state from the FG are infested with weavils.

Denying the claims that the rice sent to states are unsafe for consumption, the Minister for Humanitarian Affairs, Sadiya Umar-Farouq, stated that they were certified safe by NAFDAC.

''As you may recall, we mentioned here that we distributed the rice relief to the states. The rice was handed over to us by the Nigerian Customs Service and it was assessed by NAFDAC who issued a clearance before the goods were released for onward distribution to the states.

So, as far as we are concerned, the rice was certified fit for human consumption. We had an issue in Oyo which was officially reported this morning but two or three days ago, we saw news flying around that all the rice that we took to the southwestern part of the country were bad and that Lagos had taken its delivery to the lagoon and other states have rejected theirs.

I want to say very categorically that it is fake news. It is not true. This afternoon, I spoke with the Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum, Governor Kayode Fayemi and he assured me that the one he received in Ekiti and other states are in good condition.” she said