As part of efforts to alleviate the increasing food scarcity and hunger in the land, President Bola Tinubu has provided 1,200 bags of rice to each of his ministers for onward distribution to vulnerable members of the society.
   
This was disclosed yesterday by the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr Dele Alake, in a statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Segun Tomori, in Ado Ekiti. The Minister began the distribution of the 1,200 bags of rice made available to him by the Presidency as palliatives for the grassroots and aged in Ekiti State.
    
The Minister said: “Following the decision of the Presidency to respond to the yearnings of the Nigerian people to make more food available at the grassroots, 1,200 bags were made available to each minister to further supplement the established channels of distribution such as state governments and civic organisations.
   
“We need to reach out to our aged fathers and mothers at times like this to demonstrate the Omoluabi values of taking care of the old in the community. In the spirit of inclusion, we must channel this intervention to mainly elderly citizens who do not have the strength to compete for welfare goods such as these at the established centres”.

We have taken their inventory and we are delivering it to them.
   
“Subsequent interventions will target other segments of the populace such as widows, orphans, persons living with disabilities and students in higher institutions of learning,” Alake said.

He enjoined all public-spirited Ekiti people to lend a hand to the needy, adding that all hands must be on deck to support all efforts to rid the state of hunger and poverty.