By VICTOR ADEOTI

Osun Government says it has commenced investigation into allegation that some bags of rice distributed to the people as palliative to cushion effect of COVID-19 lockdown in the state are adulterated.

Mrs Funke Egbemode, state Commissioner for Information and Civic Orientation, in a statement on Saturday in Osogbo, said the government had received complaints that some of the distributed bags of rice might not have met the expected quality.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that Gov. Gboyega Oyetola on Wednesday, flagged off the distribution of 6,020 bags of 50kg rice to the needy to mitigate the hardship occasioned by lockdown to contain the spread of Coronavirus.

During the distribution of the rice in all the polling units across the state, some residents rejected the rice due to what they described as “very low quality”.

Egbemode, however, said government was pained by the development and had immediately begun investigation to establish the source of the few bags of rice allegedly of low quality.

She said: “Gov. Oyetola, is particularly pained by this development, considering the fact that it has never compromised quality in its provision of economic stimulus for the people of Osun in spite of its limited resources.

“The Oyetola administration is a very responsible and responsive government that places premium on the well-being of its people and will not do anything to jeopardise its citizens’ health.

“Upon receipt of the complaints, the state government immediately began investigations to establish the source of the few bags that appeared not to have met the quality expected,” she said.

The commissioner said that as part of the investigation, the state government had invited all suppliers and vendors from whom the relief materials were purchased, for questioning in order to identify the source of the problem.

“We assure our citizens that upon unraveling what went wrong, the state government will take necessary punitive measures against the erring supplier(s) or vendor(s), including de-listing such vendor from the government’s directory and even proclaiming a disclaimer to that effect,” she added.

Egbemode also revealed that all the over 6000 bags of rice were purchased from dealers in Osun, which she said was part of government’s efforts to empower its people and also stimulate the local economy.

“If the over 6,020 bags were gotten from Lagos or Abuja, we would have denied our market traders the opportunity to supply and to compensate them for the lockdown,” she added. (NAN)

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