Widespread Corruption mars distributions of COVID-19 palliatives

By OLUSESAN LAOYE

The COVID-19 pandemic which has thrown the whole world into chaos and state of uncertainty has also been having its effect in Nigeria and on Nigerians. Since it was discovered in Nigeria, it has thrown up several controversies, ranging from the activities of governments, casualties, health officials and especially the entire populace.

What is, however, pathetic is the way the government and its officials have locked up people without adequate provisions for their well being. It has been a situation when ordinary people are languishing in pains but at the same time, created a widespread avenue for official fraud, increased criminality and deceptions all over.

The COVID-19 has also given room for abuse of powers by those in authority and law enforcement agencies to brutalise the innocent people on the order to enforce the lockdown imposed on the people with hunger. As the people groan in pains daily, those in power and others who were to take care of the people are feeding fat with items which are meant to be given out as palliatives to cushion the effect of the lockdown.

The controversy surrounding the greed and attitudes of officials was not limited to people at the federal level alone but extended to both the states and local governments. So far, there has been nothing to show for it or to justify the money said to have been spent for both medical facilities, health care workers and otherwise.

While the federal government rolled out its policies, states too followed. But all the arrangements from the onset looked deceptive. The government promised to give Nigerians money and this became a big and controversial issue as there was confusion on the modalities to be adopted and the categories of those who would benefit from the gesture of government.

The utterances of the Minister of social welfare,  Sadiya Umar Farouq that 2.6 million people within four days were provided with the palliatives, which include cash and materials, came as a shock to Nigerians at the time when she and her team were still telling the people that they were working out the steps to be taken in the distribution of the palliatives especially, cash.

This instantly made Nigerians start asking how was the money disbursed and to whom was it given. At that time many states have not even commenced the lockdown or set up bodies that would handle the distribution of the materials claimed to have been distributed by the agency. Nigerians thus became suspicious of the actions of those in charge and suspected foul play.

On the possibility of fraud being committed, it was the Kogi State governor Yaya Bello that first raised the alarm of fraud in the implementation of allocations and palliatives for the pandemic. The governor argued that government officials have found the pandemic as an avenue to steal and embezzled money and the resources of Nigeria.

The governor made the outburst while denying that he tested positive to the coronavirus, saying that “they have turned the pandemic issue to political propaganda.  “The 90% of the noise made about COVID-19 was political and how to embezzle money”, he said.

The former Anambra state governor, Peter Obi was on the same page with Governor Bello, as he too declared that the coronavirus has become an avenue of fraud in Nigeria. According to him the conditional transfer of money, now linked to the COVID-19 palliative was a fraud. He said that it has been in existence since the government of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

“As far as we know a huge number of Nigerians is not in the list of the conditional transfer and they are suffering. I will, therefore, want the federal government to account for how much it has disbursed so far and not link the palliatives to the conditional transfer”, Peter Obi said.

Also before the pandemic became pronounced in Kano, the governor had expressed dismay with the ways the federal government palliatives were handled in the state and queried the sincerity of those in charge and the figures credited to his state. The incident which has continued to generate serious issues and still trending is that of the adulterated rice from the Federal government to the south-west states,   which has been rejected by the governors on the excuse that it was not good for animal consumption is part of the fraud d hide corruption. They claimed that 85% of the rice has been contaminated.

It was the Oyo state governor Seyi Makinde that first raised the matter while his counterparts in Ondo, Ekiti, Ogun Lagos and Osun backed him up. Though Oyo, Osun, Ekiti and Ondo decided to return theirs, it was argued that Lagos has decided that it would dump the bags of rice allocated to it into the lagoon. What happened in the Southwest have been described as a big fraud but the Customs are saying that they were sure that the rice taken from their stores were certified to be good for consumption,  especially that of  Oyo State.

But the Director-General of NAFDAC, Dr Mojisola Adeyeye denied that her organisation did not inspect the consignments given to Oyo. What brought about more suspicions about the palliatives was the attitudes of some states officials. This prompted complaints and call for investigations as well.

For instance, the Founder of Inri Evangelical Spiritual Church, Primate Babatunde Ayodele said that from the complaints both at the Federal and States on the distributions of the palliatives, he would want the rich and the money bags donating to the government to stop it and give money directly to the people and not pay to the coffers of government anymore.

The Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) had also lambasted the governments over the ways they have been handling the palliatives. The Chairman of the party Alhaji Falalu Bello had expressed  disappointment  with the way it was being handled and demanded that the Minister of Social Welfare and her team should account for the70,000 tonnes of grains from the National strategic grains reserve and account for how N20,000 each to 2.6 million people distributed in four days of the lockdown  which he argued was “unbelievable”

The leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, was also bitter about the palliatives distribution and suggested that the BVN should have been the method of disbursing money to Nigerians, which to him, was more transparent and gives room for security and proper accountability.  He, however, warned that history would not forgive the government for the ways people are locked up with hunger.

The coalition of Northern groups equally joined those who expressed their displeasure over how the palliatives were being distributed in the North and other parts of Nigeria, saying it was being abused. The body frowned at measures taken by governments and called on the Federal government not to give the governors money for COVID-19  “because they will abuse it”

“We know for sure that the governors are just paying lip-services. Right now it is scandalous for them to now be saying that they are paying salaries with the bailout on COVID-19. We would want the Federal government to set up committees that would judiciously disburse the fund” the group argued.

In Lagos state alone, there were several protests among the people over the distribution of the items to cushion the effect of the lockdown. Among the places are Somolu, Bariga, Abule Egba and Gbagada. In Gbagada and Bariga residents got angry with the officials going about to distribute food items they rejected saying, that what they brought did not measure up to the value of the several billions of Naira announced that they received.

Also in Abuja, a councillor at  Bwari  Area Mallam Musa Yusuf and his chairman along with the palliatives committee were beaten up and barely escaped being killed, for attempting to divert the relief materials meant for the people in the council area to help them cushion the effect of the COVID-19 lockdown. The chairman of the Bwari area council Dr John Gadaya and other officials were stoned by the angry mob for the attempted diversion.

While reacting on the perceived fraud over the distribution of the palliatives, a prominent legal icon, Chief Femi Falana (SAN) said the approach adopted gave room for suspicion and fraud. He said, so far there is nothing to show for the money claimed to have been spent. Senator Shehu Sanni too was displeased with the ways they handled the palliative, which he described as “very fraudulent”.

He said the APC government was trying to use the COVID-19 as political propaganda to show that it was on the side of the people and wondered why they are trying to play politics with it. Recently too, Yemi Alade, a singer took on the Lagos State government over the alleged  N10billion relief fund for Lagos State and asked the state government,  the commissioner of finance, Mr Rabiu Olowo Onaolapo, Gbenga Omotosho, commissioner of Information and Hon Mrs Bolaji Dada commissioner for Women Affairs, to explain how the money for the relief package was expended.

In his reaction, the Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)  Prince Diran Odeyemi castigated the  Federal government for taking Nigerians for granted over the relief package on COVID-19. He said that apart from the fact that their actions were fraudulent, they displayed a lack of human feelings with the ways they tossed and lied to Nigerians over the way they wanted to distribute money.

He said “if it were to be a good government the Minister for Social Welfare should not remain a day in office with the way she dribbled Nigerians and with her provocative utterances, taking all Nigerians as beggars and thinking  that the money to be disbursed is from her pocket and should be done the way she likes”

He also condemned Governor Gboyega Oyetola for not being tolerant and not willing to accept the truth about what happened in the state that made the figures of those with the coronavirus to increase daily in Osun state.