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Good evening! Welcome to TNG’s daily news coverage of happenings on the Covid -19 pandemic in Nigeria and across the globe.
The alleged announcement of selective disbursement of coronavirus stipends to alleviate the pains and deprivation of lockdown may just be the required litmus test for Nigerian government to adjust and readjust its belt to avoid induced violence. Emman Ovuakporie, Regional Editor, TNG
The social media has been agog with different opinions and outright condemnation of alleged plans to selectively pay stipends into various accounts of those adjudged to be truly downtrodden in Nigeria.
The common denominator as opined by Nigerians is the modality used in assessing those considered to be actually poor.
In some parts of the country it is generally believed that there are categories of some Nigerians considered to be within the category of the poorest of the poor.
But this cannot be said to be so in some other parts of the country where it is widely believed that calling somebody a poor man could lead to a serious war that could make two fairies visit heaven or hell as the case maybe.
This development is a litmus test for the Nigerian government.
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The corper’s widow’s mite
A wonderful corper Adefisoye Adeshola serving with Ogun state with code number: OG/19B/07322 has donated N10,000 to the federal government in order to support the fight against coronavirus.
In a letter addressed to President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday, she said the rate at which numbers of victims of the coronavirus pandemic increases in the country is painful.
She said in curtailing the spread of the deadly disease, wanted the federal government to deduct N10,000 from her N33,000 monthly allowance.
She said the N10,000 would produce 1 litre of liquid soap for 100 homes in the rural areas in order to keep to the precautionary measures recommended by World Health Organization (WHO), and Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to wash their hands.
CUPP faults selective disbursement
The Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) has condemned the alleged selective disbursement of covid19-stipends as an invitation to induced violence in Nigeria.
This was contained in a statement issued by the party’s image maker, Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere where he stated that:
“Federal Government method of sharing stipends to few people as palliative is a joke, child’s play, Window dressing and a political trick that will not achieve the desire of reaching out to millions of genuinely vulnerable people”.
The failure to reach the genuine vulnerable people, recipe for uncontrollable social unrest and hunger violence
The CUPP condemns the method the Federal Government has adopted to share stipends to a few people as palliative is a joke, child’s play, orchestrated window dressing a political trick and a bogus attempt to loot scarce resources in these very trying times.
With an estimated 10.6million people in the government social register, and giving the President’s directive that each person should get 2 month’s payment, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development began sharing cash to the people. How many thousands of poor people will this woman use her hand to share money in such a way to achieve the essence of reaching out to the most vulnerable? Does she expect to tell Nigerians that she shared over N200,000,000,000:00 (Two Hundred Billion Naira) only by cash? Can the Federal Government convince the citizens that this money got to the real poorest of the poor in the communities?