The Kebbi State Government says it has increased its monthly boarding school feeding from N175 million to N300 million to boost students’ morale.
The Kebbi State Governor, Comrade Dr Nasir Idris, Kauran Gwandu made the disclosure while receiving the national leadership of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) on a courtesy visit at Government House, Birnin Kebbi.
He said: “When we came on board, Kebbi State Government was paying N175 million monthly to feed our children in secondary school, so in order to pin down these students, we have improved it to N300 million.
“We are doing this so that the children can get delicious food that can sustain them to remain in the school for the benefit of our people and the state.
“On agriculture, I am the only governor in Nigeria that procured 500 trucks of fertilisers and distributed it free-of-charge to farmers. This is with a view to enhancing the morale of farmers and also boosting national food security.”
The governor added that he had purchased 550 trucks of assorted food items and distributed same free-of-charge to Kebbi people to cushion the effects of fuel subsidy removal.
“We are doing all these to assist people and reduce some difficulties being faced by our people. We are planning in the next three weeks to flag off distribution of fertilisers.
“We have almost 25,000 different solar pumps machines, pesticides and herbicides to be given to our people free so that they can go back to farm.
“Fasting is fast approaching, Kebbi State Government is making arrangement to distribute about 250 of assorted food items free to our people,” he confirmed.
He assured that his administration would neither relent in assisting people nor would it derail in executing meaningful developmental projects that have direct bearing to the lives of generality.
“That’s why if I execute project, at the same time, I will create an opportunity to assist and empower out people.
“About three months ago, the state government under Kebbi Cares, disbursed N100,000 each to 65,000 people amounting to N65 billion towards making them self sufficient and we are going for the second phase ‘In Sha Allah” the governor said.
Gov. Idris observed that his election to serve as the governor of Kebbi State was just like a rescue mission considering the circumstances that led to his victory at both polls and before different courts of law.
Earlier, the National President of NUJ, Alhassan Yahaya lauded the governor for his gigantic transformational strides across the state.
He encouraged the governor to keep the flag flying for the good of Kebbi people, adding that the indelible marks left behind by the governor were already written in Kebbi books of history.
The president specifically appreciated the governor’s giant strides in agriculture, education, health, empowerment, and general wellbeing of people among others.
Yahaya observed that the Kebbi State Council of NUJ and the Correspondents’ Chapel of the NUJ were the only state chapters in Nigeria without official bus, hence the need for the governor to consider the possibility of donating a bus to each of the bodies to ease their movements.
He thanked the governor for shouldering the responsibilities of their National Working Committee (NWC) meeting as well as the warmth reception accorded them.
