The Igbo Renaissance Forum (IRF) on Thursday condemned President
Muhammadu Buhari administration’s physical cash disbursement policy.
It called on the Nigerian government to immediately release the list
of Nigerians that have benefited from the scheme since inception.
The body said this in reaction to Humanitarian Affairs Minister,
Sadiya Farouq’s visit to Uli, in Ihiala area of Anambra State on
Wednesday.
It noted that Farouq’s trip which was, “just to give cash to those
who have their names on her list is laughable and gingerly devious at
the same time.”
Ugo-Akpe Onwuka, IRF Coordinator, in a statement, said, “We were
expecting the Minister, when she showed up at St Theresa’s Catholic
Church in Uli, to really surprise us and make the visit worth its while,
but unfortunately it was a sad anticlimactic episode.
“Even though Sadiya Umar Farouq stated expressly that the Federal
Government has given instructions for two months advance of the monthly
stipend under the NSIP Programme to be paid to the poorest in the
society, we didn’t see this happen on ground.
“It is interesting to note that there is a four months arrears owed
people whose names were on the list that was used for the disbursement
in Uli yesterday. The outstanding was what the Minister came to offset,
but she gave N20,000.
“From elementary arithmetic, if N20,000 was paid to people you are
already owing for four months, which is N80,000, it means that no
palliative was offered to the recipients based on the COVID-19 stimulus
package as claimed by the ministry in charge.”
The statement further raised concerns about the risk occasioned by
method of doling out cash across the table despite the COVID-19
outbreak.
It called on Nigerians to hold the minister and the Anambra State
Government responsible for the action which could expose citizens to the
disease.
“We wonder how such an event did not attract the attention of the
state government and why the state health and COVID-19 Team officials
failed to make efforts at ensuring that the lives of its citizens are
not endangered while trying to collect arrears of their stipends.
“Finally, we demand that the full list being used for this
disbursement exercise be put up on the website of the Ministry of
Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development for
clarity and accountability”, IRF added.
