- Urban poor gets mention
- States now handle food distribution
BY EDMOND ODOK, ABUJA – Amid growing public uproar over its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic palliatives, the Federal Government is insisting that Nigerians with over N5,000 in their bank accounts are not among the country’s poor and vulnerable populace.
Consequently, those in this category are effectively excluded from government’s consideration and will therefore not benefit from the palliatives being churned out to cushion the sufferings of Nigerians due to the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.
Similarly, the government said mobile networks will be fully deployed to determine the poor and vulnerable, particularly those that top up credit units for their phones with about N100 or less.
“Those are also people that we consider to be poor and vulnerable”, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouq, said while addressing State House correspondents after meeting President Muhammadu Buhari at Aso Villa, Abuja behind closed doors.
Hajia Farouq also said the State governments will henceforth be involved in food and items distribution to address all observable challenges in the exercise so far.
She further explained that the Ministry is now focusing on the urban poor in carrying out the latest Presidential directive on palliatives distribution to address the COVID-19 adverse effects on Nigerians.
Citing the President’s broadcast of Monday, April 13, 2020 directing that beneficiaries of the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) be expanded by one million people, the Minister said; “We are going to focus more now on the urban poor.
“These are people who depend on the informal sector to earn their livelihood; they are daily wage earners and these are the people that we are really going to focus more on as well as people living with disabilities.”
Hajia Farouq, who disclosed that the Ministry is deploying seamless and all-encompassing methods to identify and select beneficiaries of the stimulus, said; “We have three options; one, we are going to use the national social register that we already have. Two, we are also going to focus on the urban poor as I mentioned, by using their verified BVN accounts to get them, that is, people that have an account balance of N5,000 and below.
“We are also using the mobile networks, to know people that top up the credit units for their phones with maybe N100 or less. Those are also people that we consider to be poor and vulnerable. So, these are the three options that we are exploring and I am sure that by the time we get this data we will be able to give this intervention.”
These initiatives notwithstanding, the Minister hinted that only 25 per cent of Nigeria’s population would be covered for now, adding that the government may consider expanding scope later to bring on board more vulnerable and poor Nigerians.
“Let me also say that we have a standard. 25 per cent of the total population is what we will take out. It cannot go round everywhere but we are starting from somewhere. Twenty-five (25) per cent of let’s say the population of Lagos State for example is what is going to benefit from this intervention that we are doing. Going forward, we might expand it but this is what is obtainable for now.”
On the decision to have State government taking over distribution of food relief items to the people, Hajia Farouq said the move aimed at addressing challenges associated with the past exercises
She stated that the emergency response plan is focused on ensuring the palliatives in terms of food relief are well managed in a transparent manner, adding that there are different functional groups with specific schedules in the Presidential Task Force On COVID-19.
According to her; “One of such groups, is that which deals with mass care, logistics and security, to be led by the National Emergency Management Agency under the Ministry and they have a structure; from National, States, down to Local Governments, where the various State Emergency Agencies and other security agencies are involved in this distribution.
“So far, we have already done the distribution together with the State authorities in these two states affected by the lockdown, together with the FCT. But going forward, when we are going to give these food items, we are going to hand them over to the states because issues have come up” in the process so far.
