The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Edo State has clarified that the rice looted during a recent incident in Urora, Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area, was not supplied by the Federal Government. The association stressed that the rice was part of a state-funded relief program aimed at supporting vulnerable Christians.
At a press conference held on Friday at the Chancellery of the Catholic Archdiocese of Benin, CAN Chairman Dr. Irekpono Omoike addressed the misinformation surrounding the looted rice. He emphasized that the residence where the rice was stored and subsequently looted belonged to a vendor working with the state CAN Implementation Committee for the Christian Feeding Programme.
Dr. Omoike highlighted that the relief initiative was in its second phase, involving the distribution of two billion naira worth of rice to various Christian groups across the state.
He said, “There is a very important issue to correct a wrong notion that is circulating that the rice being distributed by the State Government is rice supplied by the Federal Government and re-bagged. This is misinformation. It is a very wrong notion that needs to be corrected.
“Earlier this year, the Edo State Chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria had a meeting with Governor Godwin Obaseki where he shared his concern on how to reach out to vulnerable persons and the poor who are bearing the hardship of the economic downturn in the country.
“After the meeting, an implementation committee for the Christian Feeding Programme was set up where we designed a programme on how to reach out to the poor with food palliatives. The governor released the 1st batch of the funding for the programme, which is 1 billion naira to purchase rice to be distributed. This was done and in May 2024 we flagged off the distribution of the first phase at the Baptist Convention Ground in Benin City.”
Following this meeting, the Christian Feeding Programme was established, and the governor released the first batch of funding, amounting to one billion naira, for the purchase and distribution of rice. The first phase, launched in May 2024, saw the distribution of 60,000 bags of 10kg rice across the state.
Dr. Omoike further explained that the second phase of the program commenced in July, with another billion naira released for purchasing and distributing rice. This phase aimed to reach churches and communities that were not included in the initial distribution.
Omoike noted, “For the second phase, another batch of 1 billion naira was released by the governor to replicate the exercise. We purchased another consignment, distributed it through the structure of CAN. This process is ongoing since the month of July. In the last few days, we have successfully distributed to all the churches that did not receive the 1st batch across the 18 LGAs.
“In this batch, we were able to reach 56,250. There’s another consignment in this last phase, just as we did in the 1st phase, meant for churches not under CAN, since this was really done in partnership with CAN.”
