The Oyo state government has rejected and returned a total of 1,800 bags of pest-infested rice back to the the federal government.
Dr Debo Akande, the executive adviser to Governor Seyi Makinde on agribusiness, disclosed this at the state secretariat, Ibadan, the state capital.
He said the decision was reached after a series of inspections done by the food security committee of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic task force.
The taskforce found out that the rice is unhealthy for human consumption.
“The state government discovered that the grains of rice were infested by weevil and other pests, and took the decision in the interest of residents of the state,” he said.
“We initially assumed that it was just some part of it that was infested but some commissioners from five or six ministries came with me to inspect and we realised that it is not just some but quite a lot of them were infested. We do quality control of all that we receive it is just that that was received from the federal government that we found infested.”
Akande however said the return of the 1,800 bags will not affect the state’s distribution of palliatives, noting that the state has purchased enough rice for distribution to the citizens.
He added that the state was though hopeful to receive a replacement of the bags of spoilt rice.
On Monday, Oyo/Osun Command of the Nigeria Customs Service, Mrs Helen Ngozi, handed over 1,800 bags of rice each to the governments of Oyo, Osun and Ekiti states, while it handed over 600 bags to the Ondo state government.
She said the command received the items from “the Federal Government via the federal ministry of humanitarian affairs and we brought them here to the warehouse.
“And it was in the process of further inspection, that we discovered that almost all the grains of rice has been infested by weevil and other pests”
“On that basis, we formed a committee to inspect it again so that we are really sure of what we have received and we think this rice is not consumable for human being.
“As such, such material cannot be distributed as part of palliatives in the state. We don’t want to start providing solution to a problem and then create another problem. We have done random selection we see that similar thing applies across board and the committee has agreed to return to its source. And if there is any replacement of good quality that will be sent to us, we will be glad to receive it.
Ealier, Bashir Ahmad, an aide to President Muhammadu Buhari on digital media, tweeted that President Buhari has directed the Nigeria Customs Service to release 150 truckloads of rice seized from smugglers for immediate distribution across the country as part of the FG’s palliative measures to cushion the effect of the COVID19 Pandemic.
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