The Federal Government says it is ramping up efforts to provide humanitarian support for poor Nigerians and waved off insinuations of fraud in the government’s charity efforts.
Critics claim most of the Federal Government’s humanitarian efforts are only a means to siphon public funds, arguing that it is rare to see beneficiaries of these programmes.
But the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development Nentawe Yilwatda has dismissed the claims and said many beneficiaries of the Federal Government’s social humanitarian schemes are unbanked.
“The people who are at this lower end are not on social media, they are not on the internet; they are not on TV and they are even unbanked,” Yilwatda said on Tuesday when he was featured on Channels Television’s end-of-year 2024 special review.
“So, these people don’t have a voice; assuming they have a voice, I am sure they would have been talking on our behalf. But unfortunately, they don’t have a voice.
“That’s the reason most people who have a voice, who have phones, who are on social media and TV and radio, are unfortunately not part of the social register because for now, we are dealing with the poorest of the poor in the society who are unbanked, not on social media and don’t have access to the internet. That is the reason many people have the perception that because their neighbour who may have the well withal is not on the social register then they conclude that the social register is meant for the rich.”
The minister’s comment came weeks after scores of persons were killed in stampedes during food distribution events in some parts of the country.
Yilwatda attributed the development to a lack of organisational skills on the part of the organisers among other reasons. He said the Federal Government has distributed materials to the poor but has never recorded stampedes.
The minister asked private donors to get help while organising charity events.
