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The Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) has condemned the approach adopted by the Federal Government for the disbursement of monetary palliatives to supposed vulnerable Nigerians.
The opposition coalition maintains that the physical handing out of cash to Nigerians is comical and a prelude to a major scam.
In a press statement signed by the spokesman of the CUPP, Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere, the coalition said the exercise is mere window-dressing and political gimmick, and an avenue to pilfer the country’s scarce resources.
It read in part: “With an estimated 10.6million people
in the government social register, and given the President’s directive that
each person should get two month’s
payment, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social
Development began sharing cash to the people. How many thousands of poor
Nigerians 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 Nigerians to believe that she shared over N200,000,000,000:00 (Two Hundred Billion Naira) in cash? Can the Federal Government convince the citizens that this money got to the poorest of the poor in the various communities? Was this money not shared to political party members as some of those seen in the videos and photos were expensively dressed and could not have qualified as the very vulnerable group. Was there any mechanism of monitoring these officials who government has given N200,000,000,000:00 cash or did they have direct instructions on the number of people to pay and the amount to remit to the pockets of the individuals in the Presidential Villa?”
CUPP maintained that the easiest way to
perpetrate financial fraud under the circumstance, is to disburse money
manually in the form of hand-outs.
“So how can there be accountability with this crude
method? How is she selecting those she is giving this cash? So if she shares
money to few hundred people, who will reach the remaining millions that are in
need of this palliative? How can Federal Government be directly involved in
sharing money when we have Local Government Areas, Traditional Rulers and Town
Unions that can help reach the poorest of the poor in their various localities assuming
the government needs to have a sustainable and effective way of distributing
the cash?”, CUPP queried.
The statement continued: “This is not the
palliative that can reduce tension and help people who are sitting at home get
food. This method by the Federal government is a joke, child’s play and another
mundane political trick and window dressing that will aide stealing and lack of
accountability. It is capable of aggravating the real poorest of the poor to
action and could be a recipe for social unrest and hunger induced violence.”
