The Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) says the COVID-19 pandemic has further exposed the
much-hyped social intervention programmes of the All Progressives Congress
(APC) and its government as a total hoax.
PDP said APC leaders
and the cabal have been fleecing the nation through the social incentives
rather than deploying same to benefit the people.
The PDP National
Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, in a statement on Monday said the failure
of the COVID-19 social palliatives to reach Nigerians, contrary to claims by
the APC-led administration, also validates allegations that the APC has been
using ghost beneficiaries to siphon government resources.
The party described
as alarming and revealing the news that not even a handful of Nigerians have
acknowledged receipt of any social panacea from the government despite claims
by officials that billions of naira have been paid out as palliatives to
individuals and households.
“The PDP invites
Nigerians to note how officials of the APC-led administration fraudulently
sidestepped extant financial regulations and illegally resorted to cash
disbursements, directly by a cabinet minister, instead of using the Central
Bank of Nigeria (CBN) cash disbursement facility.
“Such was part of
the design to use few unsuspecting Nigerians to circumvent the system, muddle
up financial documentation and accountability processes and facilitate the
siphoning of a huge chunk of the palliative fund.
“Such practice
directly points to a fraudulent diversion of funds by APC leaders, who have
been using the same template of the discredited social investment programmes,
which had been exposed by the First Lady, Aisha Buhari, as a fraud, when she,
last year, revealed that the N500bn Social Investment Programme of the Buhari
administration was not getting to the target beneficiaries.
“More embarrassing
is the duplicitous inclusion of the scandalous school feeding programme as an
expenditure line even when schools are closed following the social distancing
directives; an alarming development that points to the level of corruption in
the APC administration.”
PDP noted that
Nigerians can now see how the APC-led administration has been using the names
of poor Nigerians to loot our national treasury and fritter away billions of
naira to finance their wasteful lifestyle while the majority of citizens were
in hardship and abject poverty.
“This explains why
the APC-led administration has refused to open up on the handling of palliative
funds despite huge allegations of fraud and diversion.”
PDD added that APC
leaders were falling over themselves and stampeding the National Assembly for
anticipatory approval of N500 billion for yet to be itemized social palliative
measures.
The opposition
restated its call on the National Assembly to properly scrutinize the request
and ensure proper monitoring of spending.
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