The Federal Government on Monday assured that all the rice distributed to states, were certified fit for human consumption.
The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Social Development and Disaster Management, Hajiya Sadiya Farouq, who stated this while addressing newsmen in Abuja, claimed that the rice was accessed by the National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), before they went sent out.
According to her, “we all know if we keep rice or grain it is bound to change colour but that does not mean it is unfit for human consumption”.
The Governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde, accused the federal government of sending contaminated rice to the state,and however sent back the three trailer loads of rice containing about 1,800 bags.
The federal government sent about 1,800 bags of rice and vegetable oil to the state as part of measures to cushion the effect of the COVID-19 lockdown in the country.
The state Governor, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu, however ordered the return of some bags of rice sent to the state by the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management as they were found to have expired.
Speaking on the development, the Secretary of the state palliative committee, Mr. Alex Kalejaiye, confirmed that some of the bags of rice had expired and were no longer fit for consumption.
Akeredolu, who officially received the palliative items at the Government House ground, Alagbaka from the state coordinating unit of the Youths Empowerment and Social Support Operations, last week, was said to have expressed displeasure over the development.
Kalejaiye said, “They brought many bags of rice , we just carried out random check on them to discover the ones that are not good. What we are trying to do is to separate those ones that appeared bad from those ones that appeared good then we will carry out laboratory test on them to ascertain whether they are safe for consumption before giving them out to our people.
