The Senate Majority Leader, Ali Mohammed Ndume has said that about 60 out of the 113 trucks of assorted food items allocated to Borno for the upkeep of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) has disappeared without any trace.
Ndume who made the disclosure to newsmen in Maiduguri, said he was in the state to monitor the distribution of the food items only to be informed by NEMA that it only received about 53 trucks.
According to the Senator, “It is very surprising that only 53 trucks came to Borno, while about 60 trucks of rice had disapeared.
“I have learnt from a reliable source that the EFCC have apprehended the food contractor.
“The President is already assuming that Borno received about 113 trucks while in the real sense the contractor has diverted about 60 trucks of rice.
“We are not going to distribute the food items until we go back to Mr President and inform him of what we saw on ground,” Ndume said.
Ndume further said: “The President is aware that there is hunger and hardship in the Northeast which is why he sent those trucks of food.
“Hunger, malnutrition and poverty is the second war after Boko Haram which is still defeatable. The cases reported from Bama was even a tips of the iceberg.
“When you go to places like Dikwa, Marte, Kala-Balge and Magumeri, only God knows what is happening there. You will know that we are living in comfort here in Maiduguri.
“The war against insecurity is fought by the government but the war against hunger is for everybody. There is no time that the government took care of its citizens for one week. But here is Borno Government taking care of the IDP’s for about three years.
“It is therefore our collective responsibility to assist the government of Borno. Poverty has been here with us and because of the insurgency, our people have not farm for almost three years.
“This is no time for blames. I hope we will push to look at this as a war against humanity. People are saying the president did not come to Borno. Even if the President should come today, or tomorrow, will it change the situation?
“All the people should worry about is normal life where they can go to the market, hospitals and do other socio-economic activities without any fear,” Ndume was quoted to have said.
