As the Nigerian government keeps on with the N-Power program, Sadiya Farouq, the minister of humanitarian affairs, who is also in charge of the famed scheme has been accused of being responsible for the delay of the distribution of COVID-19 palliatives in Sokoto State.
Making this disclosure on Tuesday, the Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal revealed the sharing of one of the categories of COVID-19 palliative received by the state was delayed at the request of Farouq.
Tambuwal who made this revelation while speaking to citizens of Sokoto state explained that Farouq who is also the minister in charge of the youth Intervention program, N-Power requested that the sharing of the COVID-19 palliatives in the state be delayed as she wanted to be around when the distribution starts.
The governor revealed that the state only received two categories of COVID-19 palliatives since the outbreak in March.
Further explaining that the government of Sokoto state did not hoard any relief materials, Tambuwal said that the other category of palliatives received by the state was delayed because the donors wanted the materials to be assembled.
“Sokoto state has no case of hoarded relief materials meant as COVID-19 palliative,
“The state never recorded both the protest and the attendant mayhem.
“There was one by Coalition Against COVID-19 (CACOVID), which was a donation by an ensemble of philanthropists.
“The distribution of this category was a bit delayed months ago because the donors wanted the donations to be pooled.
“As soon as that was achieved, we distributed the materials under the supervision of the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Alhaji Sa’idu Umar.
“The other category were those items brought by the federal government through the office of the minister of disaster management, humanitarian affairs and social development, Sadiya Umar Farouq.
“The items were received on October 17, precisely nine days ago. The little delay we had in distributing the FG palliatives was at the instance of various requests by the minister.
“She needed to be personally around when the exercise started. She made the requests five times before turning up.
“So, it is not our fault that the items are still being distributed as we speak. It was the minister who said we should wait until she comes. And that was what happened,” Tambuwal said.
