By PAMELA EBOH, Awka

A constituent in the Awka North and South constituency, Mathew Okechukwu, has raised concern over the rice palliative from the federal government through lawmakers in the National Assembly.

Okechukwu in an open letter to the lawmaker representing the constituency, Hon Lilian Orogbu demanded explanations about what he called the missing N200m rice consignment to the constituency.

The open letter titled, “Prof. Oby Lilian Orogbu and the Missing Millions – A Constituent’s Call for Transparency”, Okechukwu said:

“Few weeks ago, Professor Oby Lilian Orogbu, the honourable member representing Awka North and South Federal Constituency at the 10^th National Assembly, denied receiving palliatives from FG meant to be distributed to the poor in our constituency worth a whopping sum of N200,000,000 (Two Hundred Million Naira).

“As a patriotic constituent, I commenced my inquiries to unravel the truth behind the highly debated disbursement.

“From my findings, the Federal Government, through the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, gave out palliatives to all National Assembly members, with figures varying between N100,000,000 and N500,000,000.

“The palliative was domiciled in the Supplementary Budget passed by the Senate in December.

“For our federal constituency, the palliative package was captioned “Emergency Palliative for Awka North and Awka South Federal Constituency, Anambra State” (Go and Verify), and a whopping sum of N200,000,000 was signed out for the project.

“With other lawmakers in the state and outside the state attesting to such generous intervention by the FG, why then is Prof. Oby Lilian Orogbu denying it and claiming that she self-sponsored the 120 bags of 10 kg of rice she gave out in December for Labour Party Leaders only?

“Since she self-sponsored the few 10kg bags of rice, it means our N200,000,000 is smiling happily somewhere in her pocket, and thus, she needs to bring it out.

“Also, I observed that her Zonal Intervention Project for the 2024 Fiscal Year, which amounts to N122,000,000 (One Hundred and Twenty-Two Million Naira), is only a “Supply of Grains to Farmers to Ease the Cost of Inflation in Awka North/Awka South Federal Constituency, Anambra State,” domiciled under the Federal College of Agriculture, Oji River, Enugu State, with the reference number ZIP20240231.”

He further said: “Awka North and Awka South Federal Constituency is a constituency made up of great men and women who are not only learned but equally well informed on the happenings in government.

“Our representative should come out and tell us where our 200 million FG Palliative is since she claimed the little rice she shared in December was self-sponsored.

“He who comes to Equity must come with clean hands.”

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