Following the looting of the COVID-19 palliative by some youth across the country, officials from the Federal Government have revealed that at no time the government asked the 36 governors and the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) to wait for a directive before distribution of the palliative to their people.
In the last five days, hoodlums have been breaking and looting food items and anything they can lay their hands on in the wake of the EndSARS protest.
Aside from the supply by the Federal Government, philanthropic individuals and private sector Coalition Against COVID-19 (CACOVID) had also contributed food and non-food items and a large chunk of the said items were yet to be distributed the individuals across many states.
After the hoarded items were discovered and looted by hoodlums, some state governors were pushed to issue a statement on why most of these food items were still lying in stores.
Although, there has been silence from both the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and the Federal Government on whether the food items discovered were actually hoarded by the state governors.
Individuals and some pressure groups have some months back taunted the Federal Government and the All Progressive Congress (APC) for claiming to have spent billions on the provision of COVID-19 palliatives to Nigerians.
However, yesterday, Zara Buhari, one of President Buhari's daughter on Instagram stated that the discovery of COVID-19 palliative in the warehouses has vindicated that her father was not the problem of Nigeria.
The statement, “Now that people confirmed that Buhari distributed enough palliatives nationwide, it is clear Buhari is not our problem,” the post claimed.
Sadiya Umar Farouq was also accused of siphoning billions from the federal government in the name of palliative. Now that she has been vindicated, people are now showing tributes to her on social media.
Her ministry had at the height of the coronavirus pandemic said it had distributed assorted food items to states for onward distribution to the most vulnerable population but the claim was rebuffed by many saying they did not benefit from the gesture.
However, with the ongoing destruction and stealing at stores and other places, some state governments have issued statements saying they could not distribute the looted palliatives given to them because they were awaiting clearance from Abuja.
For example, Bayo Jimoh, Secretary of the state’s Food and Relief Committee on COVID-19, in Osun state disclosed that they did not distribute the food item because they were waiting for the official flag-off.
Similarly, Dan Majang, the Commissioner for information in Plateau state said they did not hoard the food items but we're waiting for clearance in Abuja.
However, a source in the statehouse who spoke on condition of anonymity stated that they don’t want to join issues with the state governors in this trying time, but to distribute palliative is the sole jurisdiction of the state government when they have identified the target group.
