By Nathaniel Zacchaeus, Abuja
No fewer than 1,387,200 families are currently expecting the distribution of bags of rice approved for them by President Bola Tinubu as part of the palliatives to cushion the effects of the fuel subsidy removal.
The sum of N200m was approved for each of the 109 senators while each member of the House of Representatives got a N100m allocation to procure the commodity from the 2022 N819 supplementary appropriation as amended.
The National Assembly on July 13, 2023, passed a bill seeking to amend the 2022 Supplementary budget of N819bn out of which N500bn would be used as palliatives to cushion the effect of subsidy removal.
A member of the National Assembly who represents the Etsako federal constituency, Dekeri Anamero, had in a viral video last week confirmed that his allocation of 2,400 25kg bags of rice had been delivered to him for distribution to his constituents.
The lawmaker said he got four trailer loads of rice for distribution to his constituents from the Federal Government.
Anamero, who is also a governorship aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2024 Edo governorship election, said the N100m worth of rice was supplied through the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.
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Anamero said, “President Bola Tinubu ordered the Ministry of Agriculture to allocate N100m worth of rice and other grains to each of the 360 House of Representatives members to share with their constituents in December.
“For the 109 senators, the allocation was N200m worth of rice palliatives for each of them to share. Please my people, did your honourable members or Senators share Tinubu’s rice in your constituency this Christmas? Don’t mind if they branded it with their pictures,” he said.
If all the federal lawmakers in both chambers of the National Assembly would follow the good example of Anamero, a total of 1,387,200 25kg bags of rice would be distributed to vulnerable families in Nigeria.
This is because all the 360 members of the House of Reps would share with their constituents, 864,000 while the 109 senators would distribute 523,200 bags.
In the meantime, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has called on members of the National Assembly (NASS) to ensure proper distribution of the thousands of bags of rice and other foodstuff recently given to them for sharing by President Tinubu.
MURIC made the call Friday in Abuja in a statement by its Executive Director, Prof. Ishaq Akintola.
The statement read, “Each of Nigeria’s 109 senators allegedly received N200m worth of foodstuff while their 360 counterparts in the House of Representatives were given N100m worth each.
“Although an honourable member of the House from Edo state was seen in a video that gone viral displaying a warehouse filled with thousands of bags of rice, some senators and Reps are still denying that they collected palliatives from the president.
“We see this as an attempt to mull or trivialise the federal government’s efforts at ameliorating the sufferings of the hoi polloi. Some of our lawmakers are confused.
“How can only one lawmaker openly show his constituents thousands of bags of rice while the rest keep mum? How can the reps admit collecting massive palliatives while senators deny receiving anything? Is the Senate filled with saboteurs and confusionists,” he added.
