People Must Not Go Hungry, Adeboye Tells Buhari … As FG Stops Cash Transfer In Four States Amid Nigerians’ Outrage … Refuses To Share Private Donations As Palliative

he General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye, has advised the Federal Ggovernment not to allow Nigerians go hungry while the fight against the spread of Coronavirus is ongoing.
Adeboye was reacting to the extension of the lockdown order in Lagos, FCT and Ogun State by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Adeboye, who spoke through the Pastor in Charge of RCCG, Region 12, Sagamu, Pastor Julius Olalekan said, “people must be fed” while the struggle to contain the spread of COVID-19 continues.
The pastor said this at the presentation of relief items on behalf of Adeboye in Sagamu, Ogun State.
He said: “Our Father-in-the Lord and General Overseer of RCCG, Daddy Adeboye has directed that it doesn’t matter what is happening, the people must be fed, we must not allow our people to go hungry due to the lockdown order to combat COVID-19.
“This is even coming at a time we are celebrating our Lord Jesus who gave himself for mankind on the cross of Calvary.
“So, there is nothing too big to give in support of one another this period. This is really our third outing and we will still do more to ensure that our people do not go hungry.
“Nigerians must also not lose hope because of this ravaging disease because very soon, just as it happened in Samaria when there was lockdown in the book of Second Kings Chapter 7, we are also coming out of this present moment into abundance.”
Meanwhile, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Sadiya Umar Farouq, has directed the immediate termination of the contract of two Payment Service Providers (PSPs).
They were sanctioned for failing to meet the contractual agreement to commence Conditional Cash Transfer to beneficiaries in four states of the federation assigned to the two PSPs.
The affected states are Bayelsa and Akwa Ibom in the South-South; Abia in the South-East and Zamfara in the North-West.
The termination followed a new procurement process launched using World Bank procurement guidelines to ensure that payments commence in the affected states on or before April 28, 2020.
The minister’s order was contained in a statement, yesterday by her Special Adviser on Media, Salisu Na’inna Dambatta.
It noted that the Federal Government cannot accept delays in the current payment of N20,000 stipends to beneficiaries in poor and vulnerable households
“The failure of any payment service providers to meet their contractual agreement is unacceptable.
“The Federal Government through the Ministry cannot allow contractors to derail the immediate Conditional cash transfers to the poor and the vulnerable,” it added.
Farouq has been under fire over the method of disbursement.
Nigerians and groups have been calling on the government to release a detailed list of beneficiaries of the cash transfer.
Similarly, the Federal Government said funds donated by the private sector towards fighting Coronavirus are meant for the development of healthcare infrastructure and cannot be used to provide palliatives during a lockdown.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, gave the explanation, yesterday, when he featured on a Radio Nigeria programme, “Politics Nationwide”, monitored in Port Harcourt.
Mohammed was responding to comments from Nigerians requesting that part of the billions of naira being donated by public-spirited individuals and private institutions should be shared to the people to cushion the effect of the extended lockdown.
The minister said that the Presidential Task Force for the Control of Coronavirus was neither with the money nor in control of it, and could not share a penny from the fund to anyone.
“The private sector donors are not giving any cash to the Federal Government and they have made this clear to the people.
“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.
Mohammed further said that in addressing the issue of palliative, every country adopted peculiar strategy that was workable and acceptable.
He said that Nigeria was leading and remains the best in the whole of Africa in the area of provision of palliative to citizens as the world battles the scourge.
The minister said that the Federal Government had taken a lot of measures to cushion the effects of COVID-19 on Nigerians, including food distribution, cash transfers and loans repayment waivers.
He recalled that on March 18, the government reduced the price of petrol from N145 per litre to N125 per litre, with that reduction going further down to N123.50 per litre.
The minister added that President Muhammadu Buhari had directed a three-month repayment moratorium for all TraderMoni, MarketMoni and FarmerMoni loans as well as Federal Government-funded loans issued by the Bank of Industry, Bank of Agriculture and the Nigeria Export-Import Bank.
He said that interest rates for intervention fund had been slashed from nine to five per cent, while the CBN put aside N50billion fund to help SMEs.
Mohammed said that to cushion effect of the lockdown, satellite towns around Lagos and Abuja were being given relief materials while the vulnerable and those in IDP camps are being taken care of.
He said that besides the two months payment of Conditional Cash Transfer monthly stipend, the President ordered that the social register be expanded from 2.6 million households to 3.6 million households in the next two weeks.
The minister said that the President had set up a ministerial committee to ensure the economy adapted to the new reality and another body to minimise the impact of the pandemic on the 2020 farming season.
Apart from the $30million (about ¦ 11.4billion) recently donated by the NNPC and 33 of its partners, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), had said that monetary contributions by the Private Sector Coalition Against COVID-19 (CACOVID), has totalled up to about N15billion.