Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos, on Sunday, September 3, flagged off the distribution of food items for vulnerable households through the Lagos Food Bank Programme.

The governor said that the strategic goal of the programme was to reach 500,000 vulnerable households in the state with staple food items, using two methodologies – bulk and individual.

Sanwo-Olu said that under the category one, groups would receive bulk food items including 50kg rice, 50kg Garri and 100kg of beans.

He said that category two, individual vulnerable households would receive food boxes which consist of 10kg rice, 5kg garri and 5kg Beans.

The flag off of the food bank programme is part of the social and economic intervention programmes by the Lagos State Government to ameliorate the pains some Lagosians are experiencing due to the increase in transportation costs and food prices across the state as direct effect of the removal of fuel subsidy by the Federal Government.

Sanwo-Olu said that to ensure transparency in the implementation of this intervention, a monitoring committee would be constituted.

According to him, members of the committee would be drawn from religious groups, trade unions, people with disabilities, civil society/non-governmental organisations, youth groups, community development councils and representatives of the Lagos State House of Assembly.

He said that distribution would be done in phases among the various beneficiary groups for ease of the process.

The governor noted that in line with this plan, each group would be duly informed of the date for collection.

“I stand before you all today, deeply aware of the challenges that many Lagosians have been facing with regards to the sharp increases in transportation cost and the prices of essential food items across the state as a direct effect of the policy on the removal of fuel subsidy by the Federal Government.

“As a responsive government, we announced a number of measures aimed at ameliorating the effect of the policy on our people, most especially the vulnerable.

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“These palliative measures which are already being implemented includes a 50 per cent reduction in transportation cost in the government-owned bus system and free health services for pregnant women in government hospitals among others.

“One of the measures which we announced and being formally flagged off today is the distribution of food items for vulnerable households through the Lagos Food Bank Programme.

“The strategic goal of this programme is to reach 500,000 vulnerable households in the state with staple food items using two methodologies – bulk and individual.

“Bulk food items include (50kg Rice, 50kg Garri and 100kg Beans) for groups, and food boxes (10kg Rice, 5kg Garri, and 5kg Beans) for individual vulnerable households,” he said.

Sanwo-Olu said the programme will directly impact 500,000 benefitting households, noting that over 2,500 Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises were involved in bag manufacturing, food aggregation, packaging, and logistics, while over 25,000 employees of the MSMEs will be indirectly impacted.

The governor assured Lagosians that adequate measures have been put in place to ensure that all items received get to the intended beneficiaries.

The Star