COVID-19: Ondo denies rejecting FG’s 1,800 bags of rice

The Ondo State Food Palliative Committee has described as untrue and sensational the reports that the state has returned the 1,800 bags of rice donated by the federal government as part of the COVID-19 palliatives measures to the state.

It would be recalled that some reports said Ondo, like Oyo, has returned the rice sent by the Federal Government.

The gift, along with 700 25Ltrs of groundnut oil, was aimed at cushioning the effects of the lockdown in the state due to the COVID-19.

Ondo State Food Palliative Committee has denied rejecting the 1,800 bags of rice donated to the state by the Federal Government.

Spokesman of the committee, Mr. Alex Kalejaiye who disclosed this on Monday, said at no time did the state governor, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, instruct that the rice meant to assist the state to combat food insecurity as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic be rejected and returned to Abuja.

Kalejaye added that on receipt of the items, the palliative committee did a random physical inspection of the rice and discovered that some appeared unhealthy for consumption on the face-value while others were good.

“The committee indeed drew the attention of Mr. Governor to this and pleaded for proper guidance. While awaiting the thoughts of Mr. Governor, the committee members met and decided to carry out a comprehensive inspection to ascertain how many bags have been affected on account of storage.

“We discovered that less than 10 percent of the lot falls into this category, and subsequently separated the few bags,” he explained.

According to him, it is very embarrassing that newspapers will publish reports that the state government has rejected the Federal Government’s donation.

“The state is rather deeply appreciative of the Federal Government for standing by it in this trying time and very optimistic that the support will further cushion the effects of hunger on our people. I want to urge journalists to be painstaking in their assignments and always put their crave for scoop in check,” he said