COVID-19 palliatives: Exclude S'East, face legal action

A former Governor of Anambra State, Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife, has called on the Federal Government to extend the N20,000 conditional cash transfer and other COVID-19 palliatives to the South-East geopolitical zone or risk legal action.

He said that the palliatives must not go the way of others, noting that compared to other zones, the South East has always been denied benefits from the Federal Government.

Ezeife stated this in an interview published by Daily Sun on Wednesday.

Recall that the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouq, said on Wednesday, April 1 that the ministry had commenced payment of N20, 000 each to 5,000 beneficiaries on its CCT programme in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

She added that while the ministry was starting with FCT, Lagos and Ogun states, others would soon follow.

“With the current pandemic and circumstances on ground, this amount will go a long way to support the families in their daily lives,’’ she said.

However, Ezeife maintained that the South-East must not be excluded from these palliatives or he would sue the Federal Government.

Asked if the payment had commenced in the zone, Ezeife said, “Well, the South East is usually excluded from every benefit coming from the government.

“The most recent one is the over $22.7billion loan where every zone received something from it except the South East, which received no kobo from it.

“I have always been saying that the Federal Government, as it exists now, since the coming of Buhari and even before him, has been marginalising the South East.

“They are pushing the South East out of Nigeria. So, I don’t really have too much to say again except that I don’t want people to steal government’s money in the name of reducing the suffering of the poor people.

“There are ways of distributing things for the benefit of the poor; workable ways and not what they are doing currently. They said they are going to places and giving money to people.

“This is an avenue for politicians to steal government money under the pretense that they are giving people money.

“Well, I am not sure that South South and South East have received anything but the people of the South East are used to not receiving and we are likely to go to court about it.’’