From Timothy Olanrewaju, Maiduguri
About 30,000 households in Zabarmari, the Borno community where Boko Haram beheaded dozens of farmers, have received food aid and money nearly a week after the gruesome attacks.
The Chairman, State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Hajiya Yabawa Kolo, disclosed to newsmen at the scene of the distribution at Zabarmari weekend that the 30,000 households, roughly 200,000 persons, received bags of grains, condiments and money as supports from the federal and state governments.
‘The main purpose of these supports is to sympathise with the families and community of our brothers that were beheaded by Boko Haram last weekend,’ he said.
‘The support can’t bring back the slain men but it is government way of identifying with the people in this critical period,’ Kolo, who is also the head of the state distribution team, disclosed.
She said that the support was also intended to stabilise the farming community in the aftermath of the attacks last weekend. She said many of them have not only lost their loved ones, but also their farm products.
She said the grieving community may not be able to return to their farms due their mourning, saying the outreach by the government ‘is a form of assistance and succour to the people before they stabilise as heads of the families and survivors of the attack,’ she explained.
She disclosed that the Federal Government through the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs delivered 13,000 bags of rice, maize, condiments with N5 million while Borno State Government gave N20 million, distributed all the households.
Kolo explained that each of the households gets two bags of 12.5kg rice, two bags of 100kg maize, two cartoon of seasoning and two cartoon of tomatoes paste. She said the bereaved families get 10 bags of 12.5kg rice, maize and condiments.
She commended the community for their understanding and realsilience despite their pains from last week attack. She assured that government would continue to support vulnerable people in need, even as she prayed for end of killings and violence in the state.
The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Hajiya Sadiya Farouk, on Wednesday delivered the relief to the community as part of the Federal Government support.
Over 60 farmers were beheaded by Boko Haram on rice farmlands at Koshebe, a remote area in the central part of Borno State. Most of the victims were from Zabarmari, a farming community some 20 kilometres to Maiduguri, the state capital.
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