Erstwhile Minister for Aviation Osita Chidoka has urged Nigerians to start foundations towards averting the stampedes during the sharing of food items.

He described the stampedes in Abuja and Okija, which claimed lives during the sharing of free rice, as an indication of the level of poverty and hunger in Nigeria.

The ex-minister said: I spoke with Ernest Azudialo of the Obijackson Foundation to express my condolences and encourage him. “He is a man I deeply admire for his commitment to his community and people.

“While a former governor was paying advance school fees for his children to an International school, he built a Jesuit Loyola College in Okija so that the children of his community could access quality education. “Obijackson Foundation built a Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Okija.

“Ordinarily, Okija residents could not afford the hospital, but he built it so that his people would live. “A few days ago, at the annual distribution of rice by the Obijackson Foundation, there was a stampede, and people died. They died because they were hungry.”