Contrary to the widespread claims that state governors hoarded COVID-19 palliatives meant to be distributed to Nigerians, the Coalition Against COVID-19 (CACOVID), has weighed in on the controversial issue; insisting that some states could not commence distribution as they were yet to receive complete delivery of the items.
Recall that the Nigeria’s Governors Forum (NGF) had earlier debunked news making the rounds that the palliatives were stored up for their own use moments after Nigerians plundered warehouses in different part of the country where the items were kept.
CACOVID which is an initiative on COVID-19 relief spearheaded by the Central Bank of Nigeria in partnership with the private sector, explained in a statement by its spokesman, Osita Nwasinobi on Monday, why the palliatives were distributed late to many of the states.
Nwasinobi said, “Unfortunately, the very large size of the order and the production cycle required to meet the demand caused delays in delivering the food items to states.”
He also noted that the initiative with the help state governors and the minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) had ensured that the food items got to the beneficiaries.
According to Nwasinobi, the initiative had planned to provide relief for two million households, which would amount to about 10 million Nigerians.
Each household, it said, was meant to receive 10kg bag of rice, 5kg bag of garri/semolina, one carton of pasta, two cartons of noodles, 5kg of sugar and 1kg of salt.
On the time the delivery of the food items started, CACOVID said that the first set of distribution did not start until June.
It added that the delivery was staggered and that delivery to different states did not happen at the same time.
“As of October 2020, a sizeable portion of the items had been delivered but yet to be distributed by governors.
“Although various states and the FCT had commenced flag-off of the distribution of the food items since early August, some could not conclude the distribution as they were yet to receive complete deliveries of the items delivered to them.
“As of today (Monday), October 26, 2020, some states have confirmed completion of their distribution while others were in the process of proceeding with the distribution before these lootings took place,” it said.
While promising to publish the full delivery schedule and flag-off date for each state, CACOVID added that KPMG, its external auditor, would soon complete the audit of all donations as well as food and medical items procured.
