Mike Odiegwu, Port Harcourt
The Ijaw ethnic nationality has accused the Federal Government of excluding it from the ongoing distribution of palliatives to cushion the effects of lockdown caused by the fight against the Coronavirus pandemic.
The Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) Worldwide said at the weekend that nobody from an Ijaw community including the vulnerable and the less privileged had benefitted from the federal government’s cash and other items.
The Chairman of IYC Transition Implementation Committee (TIC), Kennedy Olorogun, alleged that persons in charge of the palliatives were distributing them on political considerations.
He said the money being distributed was derived from oil wells at the backyards of Ijaw communities and wondered why such vulnerable communities were not considered as priorities in the disbursement.
Olorogun said the riverine communities were the worst hit by the lockdown, which he said had affected their dependence on urban markets for their daily supply of foodstuffs.
He said it was inconceivable for the federal government to claim to have distributed billions of naira as palliatives to ease the lockdown pains without a dime getting to oil-producing Ijaw communities in the Niger Delta region.
He appealed to the President Muhammadu Buhari to come to the rescue of the riverine communities saying most of the residents were dying of hunger.
He said: “All the activities of the federal government’s palliative committee did not take place in any Ijaw community. The most affected areas in this lockdown are the riverine areas. Before the lockdown transporting food items to these places was very difficult. Just imagine how difficult it is doing same during the lockdown.
“What we consider is that the federal government team is using political consideration to share the palliatives instead of the economic situation of the people. The money they are sharing is coming from our environment. But our people are not being considered.
“We frown at this development seriously. I am the chairman of IYC Transition and Implementation Committee Worldwide. So, I am the leader of the Ijaw youths right now. We have done our investigations and discovered that no Ijaw person from these communities have benefited from these palliatives.
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“There is serious corruption in this distribution. They seem to be using it as a campaign tool for the next election. They are tagging politics in everything they are doing. We appeal to President Muhammadu Buhari to direct his team to where they are making their money in this country.
“Most of the resources used to run this country is coming from our place. They should look at our areas in the Niger Delta. Our people especially those in the riverine areas are dying of hunger.”
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