- We can’t share donated funds, Lai Mohammed replies Nigerians
Some Nigerians have told the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government to pay palliatives via BVN since it has decided to extend the lockdown to 14 days.
President Buhari had on Monday during a nationwide broadcast stated that the initial 14-day lockdown in affected states is still on.
The President said that the decision was taken in order to curtail the spread of coronavirus disease in the country.
Some Nigerians took to their social media pages, asking that each person should receive at least N20,000 from all the billion naira donations, with a hashtag ‘pay us via BVN’ which is the number one trend on Twitter.
Here are some comments gathered by DAILY POST from twitter:
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@yemihazan ”Namibia government has started transferring money to it’s citizens bank accounts & every other means employable.. We have the money, resources and a good amount of donations.. we can’t go another 14 days in emptiness !pay us via BVN.”
@Generalvemo” Dear Nigerian government, pay 20k per person. pay us via BVN.”
@egwurita1”Over 80million American’s to get paid b4 Wednesday. Log into the designated website, input your details & get your relief package (in form of cash) Here in Nigeria , we only hear abt billions distributed to invisible millions of households Fed Govt! Every1 needs help now! pay us via BVN.”
@yemihazan ”Many have families to feed and many they depend on, if you must extend the lockdown make us of the BVN to aid survival.MBuhari, pay us via BVN.”
@Dannywalter” Buhari, People are robbing in Ejigbo and everywhere in Lagos and Ogun state, this may end or reduce if only you can pay us via BVN. We have BVNs sir.”
@Joshua_ubeku ”We no longer have money. We no longer have food. We can’t be at home and eat nothing. Pay us via BVN or else hunger will kill us before coronavirus! Mbuhari, pay us via BVN.”
@von_bismack” Government introduced a Cashless policy and also initiated Verification of account number through BVN to curb criminality and corruption, but now,the govt have decided that paying through BVN is too transparent for them.pay us via BVN.”
@the_izuchukwu”If NCDC can send us unsolicited text everyday, why can’t the Federal Government pay the relief funds directly to our accounts?pay us via BVN.”
@fumatic”About time they explain to us the reason they have our BVN and can’t send us money through the BVN. pay us via BVN.”
@shadduy”We don’t have a president. Buhari doesn’t care about his country and it’s citizens! Our leaders are useless and incompetent! This lockdown is about to turn to the purge.pay us via BVN.”
@ femillionaire”All of a sudden, our BVN is becoming obsolete to the Govt but na lie una dey lie. This is the reason why you pushed us to have BVN but you didn’t know it. So now the time has come for its usefulness. pay us via BVN.”
@samklef ”Baba do give away for ur citizens like I dey do for my citizens.Pay via BVN.”
@esiebog ”You expect people to stay indoors for another 14day? Without any form of relief?Who are those around Buhari?Who are those advising him? pay us via BVN.”
Meanwhile, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, Nigeria now has 343 confirmed cases of coronavirus, 91 have been discharged with 10 deaths recorded.
Meanwhile, Lai Mohammed, the minister of information, says the federal government cannot share funds donated by the private sector to fight coronavirus to Nigerians.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, the minister gave reasons why the donated funds cannot be shared to citizens when he featured on “Politics Nationwide”, a Radio Nigeria programme, on Tuesday.
Mohammed said the presidential task force for the control of coronavirus neither had the money nor was in control of it, and cannot share a penny from it to anyone.
“The private sector donors are not giving any cash to the federal government and they have made this clear to the people,” he was quoted to have said.
“They said they will support the fight against the pandemic by asking government where they want healthcare infrastructure to be provided.
“What government has done is to request them to build a 30-bed isolation ward and a 10-bed Intensive Care Unit in each state in the country.
“In addition, the federal government has given them a list of equipment and commodities that will also be needed
“Therefore, the issue of using their donations to provide palliative cannot arise.”
He said in addressing the issue of palliatives, every country adopted a peculiar strategy that was workable and acceptable.
The minister said the federal government had taken a lot of measures to cushion the effects of COVID-19 on Nigerians, including food distribution, cash transfers, and loan repayment waivers.
He said Nigeria was leading and remains the best in the Africa in the area of provision of palliative to citizens as the world battles the scourge.
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Credit: Daily Post And NAN
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