COVID-19: Pay Nigerian Masses Stipends To Relieve Them Of Lockdown Burden, Onaneye Charges FG
• Says only countries with functional systems can afford total lockdown
The Federal Government has been called upon to make available the payment of the over-debated stipends meant for Nigerian masses to cushion the effect of the hardship caused by the total lockdown imposed on the people in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Making the call, Erelu Tinuade Mabel Onaneye, in a release made available on World Wide Web said, it is only countries with functional systems that can effect a total lockdown in a time like this.
Onaneye, the Erelu-Oodua of Aye Kingdom and Irawo Oni of Yoruba, in the statement said, “there is no justification for delaying the stipends meant for Nigerians in this difficult time.
As effective as lockdown might be in curbing the spread of the ravaging coronavirus, government must be ready to actively play her own roles to make it work.”
She said, “asking a family that can hardly afford daily meals despite their daily hustles to stay indoors till only God knows when, can be very disastrous. Lockdown without food kills faster than COVID-19 itself.”
Onaneye also lamented what she called “the new realm of hardship” she said “many Nigerians especially, women and children have been catapulted into with the additional costs burden caused by the lockdown as prices of food items have continued to rise almost on daily basis and people now spend so much to buy less.”
She stated that, “only a country with functional systems can afford a total lockdown.”
“In the United States and many countries battling the pandemic and enforcing lockdown, their governments put adequate measures in place to lessen their sufferings and Nigeria’s case shouldn’t be an exception,” Onaneye said.
She, therefore, implored the presidency to quickly implement the recommendations offered by independent bodies on how to disburse the money without further delay.
Onaneye was of the view that with about 40 million BVN linked accounts, it would be easy to reach every house, saying, “no matter how poor a family might be, at least one person will have a bank account with BVN through which they can be reached.”
