The Bayelsa State Emergency Management Agency (BYSEMA) has advised state residents not to consume food served at a privately owned warehouse because some “palliatives” were hidden there.
Some irate citizens broke into a warehouse where palliatives, which included rice, beans, garri, noodles, and other supplies, were being stockpiled in order to be handed to flood victims in 2022, and they took the supplies away in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State’s capital.
The incident took place, over an hour after the director-general, Hon. Walamam Sam Igrubia, and a few BYSEMA employees, had departed the warehouse grounds, on August 27, at about 7.45 p.m.
Igrubia claimed in a statement that the food products, including rice and garri, were leftover flood relief supplies from 2022 and had not been stored by the agency or the state government. He emphasized that because they had been contaminated, they should not be eaten.
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The statement in part reads: “As part of preparations for an impending flood this year, the DG visited the premises and in his presence, remnants of food items, notably rice and garri that were no longer fit for consumption, were cleared from the warehouse and placed outside for disposal the next day. The remnants, which were swept from the floor and packed in disused bags, were less than 10 bags of rice and garri and with some broken cans of oil.
“For emphasis, BYSEMA states that these items were not fresh food palliatives and were not hoarded by the agency or the state government.
“Importantly, these items are unfit for human consumption and a responsible, caring government like ours will not give Bayelsans such items as palliatives.
“In essence, there were really no food items to loot. So, those who carted away the unfit items are please advised in their own interest not to consume them.”
