The Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Edo State Chapter, Apostle Dr. Irekpono Omoike, on Thursday said it was a blatant lie to claim that the looted consignment of rice by hoodlums in Urora, Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area of the state was part of the Federal Government palliative.

He clarified that on the contrary, the consignment was meant for distribution by a vendor contracted by the Edo State CAN Implementation Committee for its Christian Feeding Programme sponsored by the state government.

He emphasised that it was wholly sponsored by the state government and that it has nothing to do with the Federal Government’s palliative.

Omoike disclosed this during a press conference at the Chancellery of the Catholic Archdiocese of Benin, in Benin City.

He noted that the Christian Feeding Programme which is in its second phase of distributing relief materials to vulnerable Christian groups was funded by the Edo State Government with two billion naira.

“There is a very important issue to correct. That is the wrong notion that is circulating that the rice being distributed by the State Government is rice supplied by the Federal Government and re-bagged. This is misinformation. It is a very wrong notion that needs to be corrected.

“Earlier this year, the Edo State Chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria had a meeting with Governor Godwin Obaseki where he shared his concern on how to reach out to vulnerable persons and the poor who are bearing the brunt of the hardship of the economic downturn in the country.

“After the meeting, an implementation committee for the Christian Feeding Programme was set up where we designed a programme on how to reach out to the poor with food palliatives. The governor released the 1stbatch of the funding for the programme, which is one billion naira to purchase rice to be distributed. This was done and in May 2024 we flagged off the distribution of the first phase at the Baptist Convention Ground in Benin City.”

He said in the First Phase of the Programme, 60,000 bags of 10kg rice were distributed, noting: “In Edo South, 27,000 bags were distributed to the LGAs through the churches in Edo South, while in Edo North we had 18,000 bags distributed.In Edo Central, we had 50,000 bags. The total that was distributed in that first batch was 60,000 bags of 10kg rice.

“For the second phase, another batch of 1 billion naira was released by the governor to replicate the exercise. We purchased another consignment, distributed it through the structure of CAN. This process is ongoing since the month of July. In the last few days, we have successfully distributed to all the churches that did not receive the 1stbatch across the 18 LGAs.

In this batch, we were able to reach 56,250. There’s another consignment in this last phase, just as we did in the 1stphase, meant for churches not under CAN, since this was really done in partnership with CAN.”

According to the Secretary of the CAN Implementation Committee for the Christian Feeding Programme, Rev’d Osagie Ehrunmwunse, “The truck in the viral video where bags of rice were looted belonged to a logistic company distributing the rice. The truck supplying down from Ekpoma had a breakdown the previous night. The rice was meant for the Seventh Days Adventist, Latter Day Saints, vulnerable children, orphanage, widows, among others.

“In an attempt for us to take that rice for safe keeping, that was when the products were looted by hoodlums. So that was exactly what happened on Thursday morning. Where the incident happened was not exactly a government warehouse. It is the house belonging to one of the suppliers of the rice for distribution.

“We are happy that nobody died in the process, or got injured. But like Mr. Chairman said, it’s disheartening to know that people have to twist the information by saying it is federal government rice.”