Obaseki will feed vulnerable Christians with N1 billion each month

The governor of Edo State, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, announced on Friday that he has set aside N1 billion naira every month for the next three months to feed the state’s poor Christians.

This is, as he stated, a comparable scheme designed for state residents who practice Islam.

This was revealed by Obaseki at the formal launch of the Edo State Food Support Program’s first phase.

The governor expressed concern about the growing number of individuals in the state who cannot afford to eat once a day and said he needed advice from Christian leaders on how to handle the worrying situation.

Obaseki stated that he chose to involve Christian leaders instead of political officeholders in reaching out to the state’s vulnerable Christians in order to avoid making it appear political.

The governor stated that churches should spearhead the effort because the state government already possessed information about the state’s most vulnerable citizens.

“I was concerned about the growing number of people who cannot afford a square meal per day,” he stated. Therefore, I asked myself, “How do we solve this problem?” I assured myself that politics was not this.

“I then called the chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and others to a meeting and explained to them what I intended to do. So, that’s how we put our heads together to come up with this programme.

“I told them this is the amount of money I will be giving you every month is N1 billion. At least, Let us try this for the first three months and see how it goes.

According to the governor, the program aims to gather more information about the state’s population in order to provide jobs for the unemployed and to determine how the government may assist when needed. It also aims to feed the vulnerable.

In his earlier remarks, Apostle Irekpono Omoike, the Chairman of the Organization Committee and CAN, thanked the governor for the initiative and announced that 10 kg out of 60,000 bags of rice had been purchased to be distributed to the state’s three senatorial districts.

He said that 27,000 of the 10 kg bags would go to Edo South’s seven local government areas, 15,000 to Edo Central, and 18,000 to Edo North.

Omoike stated that 3,000 bags—or 54,000 bags—would be given to each of the 18 local government regions. The remaining 6,000 bags, he added, would be given to churches that were not included in the CAN.