By Austin Ogwuda
DELTA State government says that it has penalized a Councillor in one of the twenty five local government areas of the State who was caught red-handed diverting bags of rice meant for palliative to the masses.
The culprit was summarily summoned before the governor where the confession was made.
This was disclosed by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) Dr. Kingsley Emu today (Wednesday) while taking delivery of another round of palliative made up of 19,500 bags of 50 kilograms of maize and 4, 700 bags of 25 kilograms of garri from the Federal Government.
Although the SSG neither mentioned the name of the Councillor nor local council area the culprit was caught but made it clear that the culprit was made to atone for his sin.
Said he, ”We have zero tolerance for manipulation. In one particular local government where a Councillor decided to work on his own, he was penalized. He was brought before the governor and was made to pay back those bags of rice, even though he shared it.
”We as a Committee have zero tolerance for manipulation. So we want to assure you that we will do our very best. Tell the DG when you go back that you saw a good template in Delta State, if possible, you can come and copy it”, he stated.
Speaking, the Director-General of the National Emergency Management Agency NEMA, Mrs Zubaida Umar represented by Mr Brandon Ibarakumor who presented the food items said it was a way to cushion the plight of Deltans.
The Committee was therefore charged to ensure the commodities get to the targeted beneficiaries across the 25 local government areas of the State.
*Story credit to: The Pond news
*Pic credit to: Press Unit Government House Asaba