Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq of Kwara State, has announced a N500m fund to assist businesses affected during last Friday’s looting spree in Ilorin, the state capital.
He said the fund was part of government’s efforts to bring them back on their feet following the mindless incident.
Governor Abdulrazaq condemned again the ” mindless looting” of people’s businesses in the state capital on Friday, insisting that there can be no justification for such criminal behaviour.
DAILY POST recalls that Friday’s looting affected both public and private facilities in Ilorin where food stuffs and valuable items were carted away by hoodlums under the guise of protests.
During an on the spot assessment of affected facilities in Ilorin, on Saturday, governor Abdulrazaq said the incident may bring businesses to their knees and cause massive loss of jobs and a surge in poverty rate.
” We are, therefore, not going to leave the business owners like that. We are setting up a N500m fund for those that were affected to access.
“The application form is live and active on the state government’s website and can now be filled by interested parties. We are going to get them back as soon as possible,” he assured.
Governor Abdulrazaq dismissed claims that, government was hoarding palliatives because it was not the owner of those materials.
He explained that the food stuffs stolen at the Cargo Terminal, were donated to specific vulnerable households and were being distributed across the state for the private sector-led CACOVID Foundation.
” The ones carted away from Agro Mall were relief materials donated to specific victims of the recent flood and rainstorm in eight local government areas of the state by the Federal government,” he added.
Governor Abdulrazaq declared that ” What happened was barefaced stealing and some people are playing politics with it.”
He disclosed that ” While the hoodlums were looting on Friday, I was holding a meeting with executives and members of the National Association of Kwara state Students and National Association of Nigeria Students, Kwara axis.
” It shows students and youths were not part of the looting. Those involved were just hoodlums and thieves,” he insisted.
