Senior Special Assistant to the President on Social Investment
Programmes, Barrister Ismaeel Ahmed has led a collective effort of other
aides of the President, Vice President, Senate President and Speaker
alongside members of the Buhari New Media Centre, the All Progressives
Congress Youth Forum (APYF), and other well-meaning young people to set
up a food pantry to distribute food to households affected by the
lockdown in and around the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
The SSA to the President led the entourage to Unguwan Gade in Kuje
Area Council, today where they donated 100 bags of 5kg rice, 100 bags of
2.5kg bags a of beans, vegetable oil and packs of indomie to a hundred
households in the community.
In his remarks, Ismaeel Ahmed noted that these donations were being
made from personal resources of himself and all the other people
mentioned above, explaining that they had felt a strong need to
collaborate and pool resources together to distribute food to these
communities and needy homes, given the lockdown announced by the Federal
Government in the FCT, Lagos and Ogun States.
“We understand that a lot of families would be hit hard by this
lockdown, especially those who live in the outskirts of Abuja. A lot of
non-essential and small business staff who live on the outskirts of the
FCT depend on daily economic activities to survive. A lockdown for them
means that there is no income, and there is no food. This is why we
pooled our resources together to distribute food to these particular
persons who would be affected by the lockdown.” Barriser Ismaeel
explained.
He further noted that donations from the Food Pantry which he had set
up are targeted at artisans, the aged and elderly, physically
challenged, and widows and single parents.
“When we go into the community we liaise with the Community leaders
to help us identify the poorest among them who are physically
challenged, artisans, aged, and widows. We are targeting a total of a
hundred households per community we visit.” Abu Andrew Abu, the
coordinator of the project stated that the team had visited Garki
Village in the FCT the previous day, and would be visiting other
communities that are affected by the lockdown.
“Those who are severely affected by this lockdown are every day
people who mostly work in the centre of town but live in the outskirts,
in Suleija, Bwari, Nyanya, Mpape and Gwagwalada. We would be visiting
these places and making donations to them. We also have in mind small
indigent communities of masons and labourers even within the township
area.
“We are aware that the government is doing its part in alleviating
the sufferings of the poor. But there is so much that the government can
do. We must bridge the gap, and that is what we are doing, in our own
little way.” Abu said.