Obaseki marks the food aid program for Christians in Edo

Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, on Friday said he has set aside N1 billion monthly to feed vulnerable Christians in the state for the next three months.

This happened even as he revealed that a similar program has been chalked out for Muslims in Edo.

Obaseki made this known during the official proclamation of phase one of the Edo State Food Support Program for Christians in Benin City.

The governor, who said he was concerned about the rising number of people who cannot afford a full meal in a day in the state, said he had to call Christian leaders in Edo on the best way to tackle the alarming situation.

Obaseki said that in order not to make it seem political, he decided not to involve political office holders but Christian leaders in reaching out to vulnerable Christians in the state.

He said: “I was concerned about the increasing number of people who could not afford a square meal in a day. So I thought to myself, how can we solve this problem? This isn’t politics, I told myself.

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“I then called the Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and some simpletons to a meeting and explained to them what I planned to do. So we put our heads together to create this program.”

Obaseki added: “I told them this is the amount of money I will give you every month. Let’s try this at least for the first three months. First, I’ll give you a billionaire monthly for three months.”

He said the program was not only to feed the vulnerable but also to collect more data on people in the state on how the government can create employment opportunities for them and provide relief where necessary.

Earlier in his remarks, the Chairman of the Organizing Committee, who is also Chairman of CAN, Apostle Irekpono Omoike, while thanking the Governor for the initiative, said 10kg of 60,000 bags of rice have been purchased for onward distribution to the three senatorial districts. in the state.

According to him, 27,000 bags of the 10kg would be distributed to the seven local government areas in Edo South, 15,000 bags to Edo Central and 18,000 bags to Edo North.

Explaining the breakdown further, Omoike said 3,000 bags would be distributed to each local government in the 18 local government areas, amounting to 54,000 bags, while the remaining 6,000 bags would be distributed to churches not covered by CAN.