The deputy president of the Senate, Jibrin Barau, has urged Nigerians to rally round President Bola Tinubu in his efforts to address the nation’s socio-economic challenges.

Mr Barau made the call while inaugurating the distribution of palliatives to his constituents in the seven states in the North-West in Kano on Sunday.

According to him, the current hardships being experienced in the country is a global problem and therefore not peculiar to Nigeria.

He said the practice globally is that if a country is going through difficult times,the citizens rally round their leaders to address them.

The lawmaker said that Mr Tinubu needed the support of Nigerians to enable him navigate the nation out of its current challenges.

He said part of the efforts of the president to address the problems, was the distribution of palliatives to the less privileged, made up of assorted grains.

Mr Barau said because of the irregularities observed in distribution of the presidential palliatives in the past, the federal government decided to re-strategise by constituting committees to undertake the exercise.

He said as the chairman of the palliatives distribution committee for the sub-region, he would ensure equitable distribution of the commodities.

The exercise commenced with the distribution of 23,000 bags of 25kg rice to beneficiaries drawn from local governments in Kano state.

Earlier, the minister of agriculture and food security, Abubakar Kyari, said Mr Tinubu was dissatisfied with the previous distribution pattern of palliative to Nigerians.

He said this necessitated the formation of the federal government’s new palliative distribution committee.

He announced that Kano state will get 70 trucks of subsidised federal government rice expected to be launched soon.

According to him, the federal government had previously given the state 90 trucks of food items and 70 trucks of fertiliser for distribution to the people which were not distributed accordingly.

He said that the second committee was put in place to pave the way for equitable distribution of the commodity to the needy across the country.

(NAN)