With less than two weeks to the end of the Muslim fasting month, the Zamfara State Government’s has so far spent N2.7 billion on Ramadan gifts.
According to the Information Commissioner, Ibrahim Birnin Magaji who disclosed this to journalists on Monday, the state government earlier spent N1 billion on buying food stuff and clothes to be given to the less privileged in the state.
“The total amount of money expended on the purchase of items distributed to the needy in across 14 local government areas of Zamfara state for Ramadan is N2.7 billion” he said.
He added that “the state government has purchased and disbursed 84,000 bags of rice, 33,600 bags of sugar, 12,600 bags of millet, 8,400 bags of maize and 8,400 bags of sorghum.”
“In each of the 2516 polling units of the state, we gave 170 women 6 yards of wax and 110 men 5 yards of brocade to assist them during this period. This gesture was conceived as part of the state government efforts to assist the people of the state to perform their religion obligation well,” the Commissioner explained.
Some other northern states have similarly announced their spendings on Ramadan gifts, but Zamfara’s N2.7 billion for a population of just over 3.2 million dwarfs the N146 million spent by the Kano State Government for a population of more than 9.3 million.
Zamfara’s Ramadan gift figures are also higher than the average of about N2.5 billion monthly revenue that the state receives from the Federation Account.