The Kebbi State Government has constituted a 13-man panel to probe the recent looting of a warehouse by hoodlums who cart away foodstuffs.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the decision was reached during a State Executive Council meeting presided over by the state’s Deputy Governor, Alhaji Umar Abubakar-Tafida, in Benin Kebbi on Monday
The committee, headed by the state’s Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Alhaji Shehu Mu’azu, was given five days to investigate the incident and report back, with recommendations on how to forestall a recurrence.
At the SEC meeting, the government also approved N3.34bn to subsidise the fares for 3,344 Muslims in the state going to Saudi Arabia on Hajj pilgrimage.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the N3.34bn subsidy is to cover the N2m hike in the Hajj fare for each pilgrim.
The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria said the N2m hike was necessitated by the naira-dollar exchange rates.
Addressing newsmen on the outcome of the meeting in Birnin Kebbi, the Commissioner for Information and Culture, Alhaji Yakubu Ahmad, announced the setting up of a 13-member committee under the chairmanship of the Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Alhaji Shehu Mu’azu, to investigate the incident.
On his part, Mu’azu explained that most of the rice carted away from the warehouse at Bayan-Kara belonged to the Birnin Kebbi Local Government as part of the palliatives distributed by the state government to the 21 local government areas in the state.
He said security operatives succeeded in salvaging more than 2,000 bags of the grains from looters and returned to safekeeping.
“The members of the committee have been given a five-day time frame between now and Friday, to investigate the remote causes of the incident, identify persons or groups involved and advise the government appropriately to guard against a repeat,” the commissioner said.
