Rivers state governor, Nyesom Wike, has released N2 billion for the procurement of essential foodstuffs to ease the pains of residents from the COVID-19 induced lockdown of the state.
Wike declared that the N2 billion special fund would also be used to empower farmers and fishermen by procuring their produces for onward distribution to residents who are unable to buy food to feed their families.
The Herald gathered that the governor made this known at the Government House, Port Harcourt on Monday, April 6.
According to him, “If we did not take the steps that we took, probably we would have seen more cases. No state is more important that the other; if there is, I think Rivers should be in that category because of oil our production.
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“That is why I insist that the Federal Government is playing politics with its fund disbursement for the COVID-19.
“As a responsible government, we did not wait to have cases before taking measures to safeguard the lives of our people. We took proactive measures, which include the closure of our land borders.
“To cushion the hardship now being faced by our people, we have also taken some measures. To ensure that there is no hunger, we have set aside N2 billion to buy agriculture products and fishes.
“We are going a step further to ensure that no one complains of hunger in our State during this trying period.
“The State Government has therefore set aside the sum of N2billion to buy off all agricultural products produced in the State from farmers and fishermen.”