By CAMI EZENWA

The much awaited Federal Government palliative to succor vulnerable families and household affected by the ongoing lockdown in Lagos state has eventually arrived.

The state received 6,000 bags of rice this evening and two truckloads of vegetable oil, for onward distribution to the poor and vulnerable in the state as already captured in the data base of the National Social Safety Nets Coordinating Office (NASSCO).

The agency which released a guiding list earlier today credited Lagos with having 52, 319 vulnerable individuals and 14, 434 vulnerable and poor families.

The list was however topped by Zamfara with 1, 341, 629 poor individuals and 291,629 poor households.

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajia Sadiya Umar Farouq, handed over the Lagos’s consignments to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu at the premises of the Nigerian Customs Service, Federal Operations Unit, Zone A, Ikeja.

”We are here on behalf of Federal Government to receive these items from the Customs Service, and this is a follow-up to the directive by the president that the Comptroller General of Customs should hand over these materials for onward delivery to the states affected by COVID 19 and other states of the federation.

“We are handing over part of the items to Lagos State, we are handing over 6,000 bags of rice of 50kg and two trucks of vegetable oil to the state govt for distribution to the poor and the vulnerable in the society,” Hajia Umar Farouq said.

At the State House earlier after meeting with the state governor, she told newsmen that her team was on a visit to Lagos to pay a solidarity visit to government and people of Lagos State on this unfortunate COVID 19 Pandemic that was affecting citizens of Lagos and Nigeria at large.

She said the visit was also to follow up on the directive of the president to give out palliative to the affected state, including Lagos and Ogun as well as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) that have been locked down by the Federal Government to curb the spread of Coronavirus otherwise called COVID-19, adding that it was also an opportunity to flag off the TraderMoni and MarketMoni intervention of the Federal Government which had been in existence for some time.

“We are bringing food relief in term of rice and condiment and secondly we want also flag off the TraderMoni and MarketMoni intervention of the Federal Government. The programme that has been in existence for some time,” she said.

Governor Sanwo-Olu, on behalf of the people and government of Lagos State, expressed appreciation to President Buhari for “continuing to be the father of the nation and for leading the nation at this time.”