The Seyi Makinde Government of Oyo State has said that the 1800 bags of rice the Federal Government donated to the state as palliatives to cushion the economic impact of the Coronavirus pandemic is infested.
President Buhari had about three weeks ago, directed the Nigeria Customs Service to release 150 trucks of rice that had been seized from smugglers over a period of time.
The Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development have been distributing these bags of rice to different states which would in turn distribute to the poor and vulnerabe in the society.
But the Executive Assistant Makinde on Agribusiness, Dr Debo Akande, has said that the 1,800 bags the government received is infested with weevil.
He noted:
“We received these items from the Federal Government via the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development and we brought them to the warehouse. It was in the process of further inspection that we discovered that the rice had been infested with weevils.
“On that basis, we formed a committee to re-inspect it so we can be sure of what we have received. We don’t want to create another problem while providing solution to another one. We have inspected it; we have done random selection and we have seen that similar things apply across the board.
“We have agreed to return them to the source but if there are good ones with good quality that could be sent to us as replacement, we will be glad to receive them.”
