There is a widespread belief among Nigerians that the country is not bereft of good policies to make life better for the citizenry. What they see
as the missing link is the lack political will and unalloyed sincerity to give life to such policies. Those who hold that view argue that they have seen good policies dragged into the mud either because somebody somewhere did not do his/her work for selfish reasons or did it with selfish motives.
Her words: “There’s hardly anyone in Nigeria who didn’t receive the Federal Government palliative care during the COVID-19 pandemic period. All the tribes in Nigeria received the palliative. In fact, it was evenly distributed. “The only relief packages a number of people in this community got during the lockdown came from well-to-do individuals and Non-Governmental Organisations who were kind enough to help the less privileged with food items,” she said.
“It was only God that saved us during that period because if the Coronavirus they are talking about was very real and killing people as they said, all of us should have dropped dead due to the way we were always packing ourselves at the secretariat everyday. We were going there almost on a daily basis hoping for something, either foodstuff or money but we didn’t get anything till the whole lockdown was called off.
“Many of them distributed many food items to residents in the street throughout the period of the lockdown,” she said. For Mrs. Ogechi Bamidele, as much as she longed for the palliatives, she got nothing. “It came as a temporary relief when I heard that palliatives will be distributed but I waited in vain. It was as if you needed some kind of connection to get them.
Many residents, mostly the aged, who spoke with The Guardian in Isuti-Egan, Igando, in Ikotun-Igando Local Council Development Area claimed they did not receive the stimulus package from the government, accusing politicians of diverting the materials. Olufemi Odeyemi described the claim that every Nigerian received the government’s palliative as laughable. “It is understandable because there is no sincerity of purpose in our leaders despite our huge resources,” he added.
“I decided not to take anything because I didn’t need it. During the initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, some people told me the government was sharing palliatives somewhere around Abule-Egun. I saw some family members holding packs of noodles, groundnut oils and other household needs. “In fact, for most of the staff here, they didn’t get any palliative of any kind. The only thing I can say the staff got from the chairman of Isolo LCDA, Shamsudeen Olaleye, was N2, 500 each, which was paid into their accounts,” the source said.
“We distributed the items to about 60,000 households. Single households didn’t get because we distributed through the local governments, churches mosques, associations that are duly registered, monarchs in different communities and political parties. We have the records of those that got the palliatives.
“You must belong to their party before you can smell such thing. That is why Governor Ayo Fayose was better in this regard because he would have personally supervised the distribution of the palliatives and made sure it got to the right people,” he noted. In Kota Ekiti, a resident, Ojo Sunday, said that his wife received one kilogramme of Semolina and N100 worth of salt for a family of six people, adding that the items were rationed to few families.
“We were only hearing that government would distribute relief materials but we did not see anything. At least, I am approaching 70 years. If there was anything like that, it would have reached me and my family. In election periods, politicians will go from house to house, from church to church or from mosque to mosque but when it comes to distribution of palliatives at a period like this, you won’t see them,” he said.
Speaking through his Press Secretary, Mr. Doman Wetkum, he noted that he could not tell what actually came in as palliatives donated to the state because some came through the governor himself. But The Guardian was inundated with complaints that the officials distributed the foodstuffs mainly to members of the APC when it contacted residents.
For Alex Manu, an herbalist, residing in Owerri North LGA, there was nothing like palliative to him and his household. He said: “I heard that there were small food items distributed during the lockdown. I did not receive anything. Go to other organised nations. During the lockdown, some officials of their governments were going from door-to-door and house-to-house dropping food for the people. But here, the governments distributed through their political party. This is unfair.
But some residents in Calabar lamented that they had not received any palliative from the government since the outbreak of the pandemic while some said they had benefited through their traditional rulers.
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