Breaking News: Acting President Osinbajo Arrives In Borno, Accompanied By Service Chiefs

 

 By Egbe Emmanuel Egbala

Acting President Osinbajo is currently in the city of Maiduguri after an attack by Boko Haram jihadists which killed 13 people and injured 24 others, on Thursday.

Yemi Osinbajo, to whom President Muhammadu Buhari handed power after going to United Kingdom on medical leave on May 7, is in the city to launch an aid initiative for people displaced by the Boko Haram insurgency, spokesman Laolu Akande tweeted.

The Programme is a new initiative of the Federal Government that aims to distribute food to 1.8m persons affected by insurgency in the North East.

According to the Presidency, “the distribution will be carried out on behalf of the Federal Government by officials of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in partnership with State Emergency Management Agencies (SEMAs) and International Humanitarian Agencies. NEMA has assured that it is taking all the measures necessary to ensure transparent and equitable distribution of the grain.

The Presidency went further to say that “the total amount of food to be distributed in the first phase being flagged off by Acting President Osinbajo on June 8, 2017 is 30,000 metric tonnes — comprising Maize, Sorghum and Soyabeans, grown locally by Nigerian farmers and purchased from Nigerian companies.

“The Federal Government will buy the grain to be distributed from local farmers and suppliers. The grains will be sourced from Ibadan, Funtua, Kano, Kaduna, Gombe and will be conveyed — mainly by road— to IDPs (in camps and host communities) in Borno, Adamawa, Taraba, Yobe, Bauchi and Gombe. A total of 1,032 trucks were involved in the first phase of the Distribution, which will be flagged off by Acting President on Thursday June 8, 2017, in Maiduguri, Borno state.

The attack on Wednesday night was the biggest on the city for about 18 months.