The Governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki, on Friday, said he has earmarked N1 billion monthly to feed vulnerable Christians in the state in the next three months.
This is even as he disclosed that a similar programme has been mapped out for Muslims in Edo.
Obaseki disclosed this during the official flag-off of phase one of the Edo State Food Support Programme for Christians in Benin City.
The governor, who said he was worried by the rising numbers of people who cannot afford a square meal in a day in the state, said he had to call Christian leaders in Edo on how best to address the alarming situation.
Obaseki said in order not to make it look political, he decided not to involve political officeholders, but Christian leaders in reaching out to vulnerable Christians in the state.
He said: “I was worried by the rising number of people who cannot afford a square meal in a day. So, I thought to myself how do we solve this problem. This is not politics I told myself.
ALSO READ: Edo guber: Coalition charges INEC against disenfranchising potential voters
“I then called the chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and some of the blockheads to a meeting and explained to them what I intended to do. So, that’s how we put our heads together to come up with this programme.”
Obaseki added: “I told them this is the amount of money I will be giving you every month. At least, Let us try this for the first three months. I’ll give you a billionaire monthly for three months first.”
He said the programme was not just to feed the vulnerable, but also to gather more data about people in the state on how the government can create employment for them and render help where necessary.
Earlier in his remark, the Chairman of the Organising Committee who also doubles as the Chairman of CAN, Apostle Irekpono Omoike, while thanking the governor for the initiative, said 10kg of 60,000 bags of rice have been purchased for onward distribution to the three senatorial districts in the state.
According to him, 27,000 bags of the 10kg would be distributed to the seven local government areas in Edo South, 15, 000 bags to Edo Central and 18,000 bags to Edo North.
Further giving the breakdown, Omoike said 3,000 bags would be distributed to each local government across the 18 local government areas, amounting to 54,000 bags, while the remaining 6,000 bags would be distributed to churches not captured under CAN.