Kaduna State Government says it has ended the second phase of the distribution of relief materials to low income earners and vulnerable people in the state.
The government said in a statement that almost all the 14 local governments that were not covered in the first phase had benefitted.
Secretary to the Kaduna State Government, Malam Balarabe Lawal, said this in a statement on Monday in Kaduna.
Lawal said that only Birnin Gwari and Kubau Local Government Areas were yet to distribute the items, adding that they had arrived at the council headquarters.
Balarabe, who is also the state’s Chairman of the COVID-19 Relief Distribution Committee, said: “the second phase minimised human discretion in the distribution exercise, which made it more objective and less rancorous.’’
‘’The list of benefitting households was drawn up from multiple data bases like the Federal Government’s Social Investment Programme and data from telecommunication companies, detailing individuals who recharge less than N100 per month in that locality.
‘’Likewise, the Ministry of Health which had earlier distributed mosquito nets to people from the lowest rung of society, provided data of vulnerable and needy people.’’
Lawal added that the lists were further scrutinised and harmonised by Cluster Committees across the 32,000 clusters in the 14 local government areas.
‘’The Cluster Committees comprised two women, an Islamic cleric and a Christian clergy as well as a councillor per cluster.
“In communities that are somewhat religiously homogenous, the faith-based representatives on the Cluster Committee reflected the two dominant sects of the religion in the area,’’ he said.
According to him, benefitting households were given coupons which they present before receipt of their package to ensure proper record keeping and accountability.
The statement further said that the coupons contained the names, addresses and telephone numbers of beneficiaries.
‘’In all, 32,000 households benefitted from the exercise and each household got a package which comprised a 10 kg bag of rice or spaghetti, 10 kg bag of semovita or cassava flour (Gari), 5 kg bag of beans and one carton of noodles, including one 3 kg of vegetable oil,’’ he said.
He said that the market value of the food items was estimated at N11,000 per household, adding that the items were packaged in a white Kaduna State Government branded sacks.
The secretary listed the benefitting local councils Lere; Kudan, Giwa and Soba.
Others are Kubau, Ikara, Makarfi, Kauru and Kajuru, including Sanga and Zangon Kataf as well as Kagarko and Jaba Local Governments.