The Gombe and Jigawa governments have constituted committees to guard against stampede in the palliative distribution exercise.

The committees are designed to decentralise distribution, guard against the diversion of commodities, and protect lives and property during the exercise.

Officials of the states’ humanitarian and social welfare agencies stated this while responding to a survey on palliative distribution in Bauchi, Dutse and Gombe.

The development came against the backdrop of a stampede during palliative distribution exercises, resulting in the loss of lives and property in parts of the country.

Authorities in Bauchi had confirmed seven persons dead and many others injured during the alms stampede, while one other person was killed, and large-scale looting of food items was reported in Kebbi in the past two weeks.

The trend prompted state governments and social welfare programme agencies to adopt proactive measures to address the menace.

In Jigawa, the government constituted state, local, and ward-level committees to sanitise the palliative distribution exercise.

Auwal Sankara, the Jigawa commissioner for special duties, declared the exercise orderly and hitch-free.

He said the state recorded remarkable feats during the first and second phases of the palliative distribution due to the exercise’s decentralisation.

Mr Sankara said the state constituted committees at every level of governance to enhance wider stakeholder engagement, mobilise participation, promote discipline, and address commodity diversion.

He said the feat was due to proactive measures adopted to correct the lapses recorded in the fuel subsidy removal palliative distribution exercises in Dutse and Gumel LGA.

“Our strategy is to guard against diversion and ensure that the food items reach a reasonable number of deserving households across the state.

“We distributed 12,000 bags of rice to 35,664 persons across the 27 LGAs under the first phase of the distribution exercise. Governor Umar Namadi provided 47,642 bags of rice, 13,500 bags of maise, and other food items for distribution to 243,000 persons under the second phase of the exercise.

“The state also distributed 29,700 cartons of pasta to 89,100 beneficiaries across the state, while 108,000 vulnerable persons each received N10,000 Conditional Cash Transfer initiated by the state government.

“This is how we distributed palliative to over 1.5 million beneficiaries directly without recording stampedes in Jigawa,” Mr Sankara said.

(NAN)