Customs Deliver N1.6b Seized Items to IDPs
THE Nigerian Customs Services (NCS) has donated N1.5billion worth of food and relief materials to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) taking refuge in camps and host communities in Maiduguri, Borno State for immediate distribution.
The distribution of materials will strengthen the ongoing efforts of the Federal and state governments to resettle the displaced persons affected by Boko Haram insurgency in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states.
Presenting the relief materials yesterday to Governor Kashim Shettima at the Government House, Maiduguri, the Assistant Comptroller of Customs, ACG, Abdullahi Azarema commended the governor for transporting the relief materials from various Customs warehouses across the country to Maiduguri for distribution to IDPs.
According to the ACG, “This is in furtherance of the discharge of Presidential directive that all seized perishable items be given to IDPs to cushion their devastation effects, and to live a normal life,”.
Azarema revealed that the materials for distribution, include 40, 552 bags and cartons of rice, spaghetti and vegetable cooking oil, and 63 bags of second-hand shoes and bags.
The ACG also disclosed that the donated food and relief materials are worth N1.5 billion, excluding the costs of transporting them to Maiduguri for distribution.
Azarema therefore urged the Borno State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) to ensure smooth and transparent distribution of the donated materials to IDPs.
While thanking the Federal Government for the relief materials, Governor Shettima assured the Comptroller that SEMA would distribute them transparently, without diverting any for selfish interests. He added that none of the food items has expired, as the 36, 822 bags of rice have an expiry date of January 20, 2018.
