![Governor Alex Otti of Abia State. [Google]](http://media.assettype.com/lagoslocalnews%2F2024-06%2F442c6bc6-897d-43ba-8bbd-01134ff6750e%2FAD607C7B_1325_4477_A61D_715337C2C945.jpeg?w=480&auto=format%2Ccompress&fit=max)
The Abia State Government has stated that it has not received any 20 trucks of rice as palliative from the Federal Government.
The Commissioner for Information, Prince Okey Kanu has dismissed reports that the Federal Government had distributed 50kg bags of rice to states for sale at the cost of N40,000 and deemed it a fake news.
Kanu emphasized that the state government has not received any communication from the Federal Government regarding such palliatives and he has been providing palliatives to his citizens from grade level 0-7.
Governor Alex Otti also clarified that the N570 billion the Federal Government claimed it disbursed to states as part of measures to cushion the effects of the economic hardship following the fuel subsidy removal is actually a loan from the World Bank channeled through the federal government.
Otti stated that the money does not belong to the federal government and that anyone creating the impression that the federal government disbursed N570 billion to the states is misrepresenting the facts.
The Governor further stated that the state has always equitably distributed any palliative it received for the people, mostly to the most vulnerable in their Wards and Local Governments.
He emphasized that palliatives should be for the poorest of the poor and that the state government has disbursed N1 billion interest-free revolving loan to 1000 businesses as a form of palliative.
