By Jethro Ibileke
Godwin Obaseki of Edo State on Friday flagged-off the first phase the Christian Feeding Programme, an arm of the Feed the Hungry Initiative he lunched on 8 March, 2024.
The flag-off ceremony was held at the Baptist Convention Hall, in Benin, the State capital.
The first phase of the programme targets no fewer than 60,000 most vulnerable residents of the state.
Speaking at the event, the Governor who said he was worried by the rising number of people who cannot afford a square meal in a day in the state, disclosed that his government has earmarked the sum of ₦1 billion monthly for the next three months, for the first phase of the programme.
He said the programme was not just to feed the vulnerable, but also to gather more data about people in the state on how government can create employment for them and how the government can render help where necessary.
“I was worried by the rising number of people who cannot afford a square meal in a day. So, I thought to myself how do we solve this problem. This is not politics I told myself.
“Today, we are launching the first phase, so that we can give food to those who can’t afford to eat, and as we are giving them food, we get more information about where they live and what they do. Even if they don’t have identity card, we still give them.
“What We are doing today is to get information about people who are not able to feed and why are they not able to feed and know what opportunity we can create for them so that government can go back and work sincerely on how to lift people out of poverty.
“When people are hungry, they don’t come to the Government House but to the Church and that is why we team up together for this. I did it for God and not for politics. That is why I did not involve government officials.
“We are also doing a something similar for the Muslims because we want an all inclusive Edo where everyone who live here should feel they are part of the state,” Obaseki said.
Earlier in his remark, the Chairman of Edo State chapter of the Christians, Apostle Irekpono Omoike, who also doubles as the Organising committee chairman, disclosed that a total of 60,000 bags of 10kg of rice have been purchased for onward distribution to the three senatorial districts in the state.
He further disclosed that 3000 bags would be distributed to each local government across the 18 local government areas, amounting to 54,000 bags, while the remaining 6,000 bags would be distributed to churches not captured under CAN.
Some of the rice for onward distribution to vulnerable people