From Sola Ojo, Kaduna
Poor and vulnerable households in select communities in Kaduna State have benefitted from the distribution of food and non-food items donated by Victims’ Support Fund (VSF) Committee chaired by General TY Danjuma (retd).
Each of the benefitting poor and vulnerable households received a 50 kg package containing rice (10Kg), beans (10 Kg), salt (500 gm), vegetable oil (4 Liter gallon), face mask and hand sanitiser from this non-governmental organisation.
Leading the distribution team on behalf of Vision Trust and I-Care Women and Youth Initiative, Project Manager, I-Care Women and Youth Initiative, Abdulrahman Mikail hinted that, the Chairman of the VSF Committee, TY Danjuma, had on March 30, 2020, set up a task force to drive VSF intervention on the COVID-19 pandemic.
‘In the first phase of the intervention, the Task Force earmarked Lagos, Ogun, and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, the hot spots and the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic, with h high status of infection rates, and Borno, Adamawa, Yobe and Taraba states, which are generally, the core VSF partner states with high levels of vulnerabilities as priority intervention areas.
‘The distribution of food items to vulnerable households, a component of the VSF COVID-19 response, was flagged off in the Malaysia IDP camp in Abuja on April 14, 2020 – which successfully supported over 27,000 households and over 189,000 indirect beneficiaries on the average.
‘Consequently, the phase ll of the COVID-19 intervention targeted at mainly the vulnerable population in the selected additional states in the Northwest and North Central States where there has being a recent spike in the cases of COVID-19.
‘Seven (7) states of Zamfara, Katsina, Kano, and Kaduna, in the Northwest, and Plateau, Benue and Niger in the North Central has been carefully selected phase ll of the intervention and that is why we are here today to give the beneficiaries a surprise package,’ he said.
A disabled elder in the community, Muhammed Inuwa, who was the first person the palliative was handed down to, expressed gratitude for remembering him even when he least expected.
‘I appreciate these people and our people here for bringing this to my attention. I was just called upon to come and benefit from this. It came as a surprise to me,’ the old man said.
A senior citizen and a widow, Deborah Peter, also confirmed that she was not expecting the gift.
‘I was not expecting this. They have just sent for me to to be given the package. It came at the right time. I appreciate it and thank the people behind it.’
The Village Head, Down Quarters, Kaduna South Local Government, Kaduna, Muhammed Musa, described the palliative as ‘surprise’ to him and benefitting members of his community.
‘We didn’t know something like this was coming to our community. But we are very happy because people need it. When they came with the palliative, we tried to identify the beneficiaries within us so it is those it was meant for that got it.
‘As you can see, we have disabled, widows and old people that were given the package who are very happy. So, on behalf of the beneficiaries, we most sincerely thank the organisations behind this,’ he said.