… Stresses that Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouk Doesn’t Have the Experience and Prerequisite to do the Distribution

…Insists Kleptocrats In PMB’s Govt Exploiting Nigerians

Abuja (nassnews) – The Vocal lawmaker, Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume, has called for the immediate dissolution of the committee headed by the Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management minister, Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouk.

He called on Mr President to, as a matter of urgency, form a taskforce that would deal with issue of palliatives, headed by the military, police, civil defence, voluntary organisations and the NYSC among others.

Senator Ndume, who represents Southern Borno Senatorial District and chairman, Senate Committee on Army, described President Muhammadu Buhari as an innocent man but surrounded by corrupt politicians who use their positions to exploit and kill other Nigerians.

Ndume frowned at the manner the federal government’s COVID-19 palliative fund is being distributed and called for the dissolution of the committee headed by the Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management minister, Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouk.

The senator, who spoke with newsmen in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, yesterday, on the impacts of the lockdown by the federal government on poorest Nigerians, declared: “My concern is the manner and the way the COVID-19 palliative measures provided by the president is being handled or executed. We have received numerous complaints and it is actually very unfortunate.

“In fact, left to me, I am strongly calling for the humanitarian committee headed by the minister of Humanitarian Affairs to be dissolved with immediate effect. And the president should as a matter of urgency form a taskforce that would deal with issue of palliatives, headed by the military, police, civil defence, voluntary organisations and the NYSC among others.

“It should be formed as taskforce committee headed by governor of each state, and those materials or cash be allocated and distributed house to house, instead of fake or dubious way they have been handling the matter by just going to Television House or Government House to demonstrate.

“If you see a minister or big person in anywhere going personally to do something, then know that there is something wrong. If not, what has the minister got to do with going from state to state to distribute palliative. They should be in the ministry monitoring the activities.

“I saw a minister on TV going there to handout N20,000 each to people, that is fake; that is full of lies and if the president don’t do something to stop it now, we will end up investigating and later on going back and forward to the court, that is if they are prosecuted, or going to the committee denying and swearing, and by that time, many poor of the poorest would have died because of avoidable things.

“So, I am using this medium to call on Mr. President to sack the COVID-19 Palliative Measure Committee; and I am also calling on the National Assembly to back up my call by saying that this cannot be handled by a new ministry with no effective structure all over the states.”

Ndume further noted that the humanitarian minister doesn’t have the experience and prerequisite to do the distribution, saying that there are a lot of accusations and counter allegations of how the committee generated the beneficiaries of the palliatives.

He said while the pitiable situation of the poor is visible to everyone, few individuals are rushing to squander the money meant for the poor.

“We have reliable information that the names they generated are fake and that they connived with some of the banks to defraud the poor. If they should continue this way , it is better to stop the excercise,” Ndume said.(Leadership)