Senator Jibrin Isah Echocho has started trucking thousands of bags of rice, cartons of vegetable oil, and packs of salt across the nine local-government areas of Kogi East. The goal is simple: help families keep suhoor and iftar on the table in a lean economy and a holy month.
The first trucks rolled out earlier this week. From Omala and Idah to Dekina and Ibaji, ward officials and community leaders are signing off on bags delivered straight to village squares and mosques.
An aide speaking at one hand-over said the Senator “knows prices have gone north and salaries haven’t. Sharing food is his way of fasting with us—he doesn’t want any house in the district left out.”
Echocho has bank-rolled similar drives before—solar lights, school fees, free surgeries—but locals say the timing of this one hits different.
“Market rice is almost N70 000 per bag. This gift lands the same week we begin Ramadan,” said Mallam Usman after collecting his share in Anyigba. “My six kids will eat proper meals until Eid.”
The distribution is still running; officials estimate thousands of households will get a 5 kg bag of rice, a litre of oil, and a packet of salt before the moon is sighted again.
Senator Echocho, in a short WhatsApp note, asked constituents to “pray for Kogi and Nigeria while we share the little we have. More programmes that put people first are already lined up for after Ramadan.”
