By Gbenga Akingbule.
Former Chairman of the Board of Trustees (BOT) of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Under President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, Kashim Imam on Wednesday continued food distribution to different Internal Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps to support victims of last weekend’s flooding that killed an unspecified number of residents and destroyed properties in Maiduguri and Jere Councils
Gatekeepers News reports that the aim of the food distribution according to Imam is to tackle hunger which he considers the topmost priority for the IDPs
“Some IDP say they’ve not eaten for days and there’s a need to provide food for them,” Imam said on Wednesday as he took a tour with Coaster bus load of cooked food and water to densely populated camps in Maiduguri, the state capital.
Imam who is known for his philanthropic acts was forced to abandon his chains of overseas businesses and relocate to Maiduguri alongside his family to join forces with the state government and other well-meaning individuals in providing succour to residents whose majority have lost loved ones, a source of livelihood and their houses.
According to Imam who spoke during a brief press conference, “We are saddened by the shared numbers of lives lost, by our account, it’s running into hundreds and sadly their bodies are being discovered daily as water recedes. The carnage, the loss of lives, the loss of properties and unimaginable displacements.
“The immediate emphasis is on food, I have seen people crying they haven’t eaten in two days and this is an immediate concern of everybody, as water recedes and we count our losses then these other challenges will also come to the fore.
“In line with the appeal of Governor Zulum, we elected to focus on alleviating the suffering of those affected by providing food and water with immediate effect so I am happy to inform you that I am providing a total of 200,000 food packs we have already commenced with an average of 6,000 a day and we wish to scale to 10,000 packs every day,” Imam said.
Imam who was at different times the gubernatorial candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) before joining the All Progressives Congress (APC) said the food distribution is only the first step in his intervention pointing out that “ there’re short, medium and long time plans of assisting the flood victims “.
Fatima Imam, one of the daughters of Imam who is part of the food packaging revealed that members of her family have continued to work round the clock to ensure cooked food reaches
“We try to feed as many people as possible every day- sometimes we cook rice, stew and beef while other times Jollof rice. We cook at least 20 bags of rice every day – we sleep by 4 am and wake up by 6 am just to make sure we get food across to the flood Victims,” Fatima said.
