COVID 19 Palliatives: FG Diverts Billions To Katsina

By Fola James

Many Nigerians will not be happy that a bulk of the cash palliative meant to cushion the effects of the corona virus pandemic has been diverted to the president’s home state, Katsina.

With a total of 133,227 beneficiaries, Katsina State is the highest recipient of the Federal Government’s Conditional Cash Transfer programme, according to figures provided by the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development.

Two other Northern states followed in the pack of states with the highest number of recipients who have received at least N20, 000 in the last few weeks.

Lagos state, the epicenter of the pandemic has so far not received any cash transfer from the federal government.

The revelation came on the crest of concerns by many states in the country that their people have been deliberately left out of the programme.

Penultimate week, the Senate President Ahmad Lawan and Speaker of the House of Representatives Femi Gbajabiamila met with Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development. , Sadiya Umar Farouq  to address the issue.

According to infographic data published by the International Centre for Investigative Reporting on states captured in the CCT scheme and their respective number Delta and Borno states had zero beneficiaries as at April 9, 2020.

The infographic, which was created on April 11, 2020, stated its source as the National Cash Transfer Office and revealed that 1,126,211 households have benefited from the CCT programme.

Zamfara, Jigawa, Kano, Plateau, Kebbi, Kogi, and Benue states had 130,764; 99,044; 84,148; 78,430; 76,026; 62,129; and 58,943 beneficiaries respectively.

Nasarawa, Kaduna, Kwara, Gombe, Akwa Ibom, Yobe, and Bauchi states had 48,687; 35,384; 32,218; 26,532; 24,929; 24,814; and 23,305 beneficiaries respectively.

The number of beneficiaries in the Federal Capital Territory, Niger, Taraba, Adamawa, Osun, Oyo, and Cross River states are 20,129; 19,898; 17,803; 16,988; 15,572; 13,811; and 11,998 respectively.

For Edo, Bayelsa, Rivers, Abia, Anambra, and Imo states, the number of beneficiaries are 11,368; 9,805; 9,596; 9,347; 8,105; and 7,220 respectively.

Meanwhile, Farouq assured on Wednesday at the daily briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID 19 that states that have not received the palliatives will receive theirs soon.