By AgroNigeria
The Lagos State government on Tuesday announced that it was opening food kitchens across all local councils in the state to feed 100, 000 people.
The kitchens, it said, was part of a new set of palliatives being rolled out to cushion the effect of the extension of the stay-at-home lockdown order.
The Kitchens are expected to provide one meal per day to 100,000 youths, the state government further disclosed.
President Muhammadu Buhari in a nationwide broadcast on Monday announced the extension of the lockdown order by another 14 days.
The initial two-week lockdown, which took off on March 30, ended 11:59pm on April 13th.
In response, the Lagos State government said its second food stimulus package would help to cushion the effect on residents.
Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu in a press statement also announced other palliatives, including a three-month moratorium for loans granted under the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund.
Sanwo-Olu said, “Before the first set of stay-at-home directives, I announced a welfare package for the indigent and vulnerable segment of the society.
“Although we encountered some hitches along the way, we have since revised the process and have now seen a mark of improvement in the distribution of the relief packages that is being carried out in a dignifying manner and in full compliance with all public health directives and guidelines.
“Today, I am pleased to announce additional palliatives for our citizens to further ameliorate the inconvenience occasioned by this extended lockdown. In the next couple of days, we will commence a daily ‘Food Kitchen’ programme with the target to feed about 100,000 people daily. This will largely target the youths.”
Also, the state government said it has commenced the distribution of the second set of food aid to 250,000 vulnerable households in the state.
The governor also disclosed that his administration was working on formalities to commence conditional cash transfer to vulnerable groups in the state.
He said, “We are also cleaning up our data from our various social registers to get a clean list of truly vulnerable and economically challenged persons to enable the government remit some cash to them.
“We aim to do these cash transfers by the end of the week to a minimum of 250,000 indigent citizens.”