By Uzair Adam Imam
The Katsina State Government disclosed that it received the sum of N2 billion out of the N5 billion palliative approved to states by the federal government.
The state Commissioner for Information, Culture and Home Affairs, Malam Salisu-Zango, relayed the clarification to journalists in a statement on Wednesday.
Zango’s disclosure was in reaction to the insinuation that the federal government released N5 billion to the state.
He said that: “The attention of the state government has been drawn to news going round in the media that N5 billion has been released to states by the Federal Government for palliative.
“I wish to state that, [the] Katsina State Government received only N2 billion for procurement of grain to be distributed to the citizens of the state”.
Zango further stated that the state government had so far utilised N2 billion to procure 40,000 bags of rice for distribution to vulnerable persons in all the polling units across the state.
He added that the government would also utilise the next tranche of the fund from the federal government to purchase maize for distribution to deserving households.