Coronavirus: Using Private Donations To Provide Palliative Impossible - FG

 

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has said that the private donations made by private individuals to fight against coronavirus cannot be used to provide palliatives during the lockdown.

Allnews reports that some Nigerians earlier took to their Twitter handles to call on the federal government to use the donations to provide palliatives after president Muhammadu Buhari announced an extension of lockdown in Abuja, Lagos and Ogun states

Mohammed, while featuring on a Radio Nigeria programme, “Politics Nationwide”, said the donations would be used for the development of Nigeria’s healthcare systems.

He said the Presidential Task Force for the Control of Coronavirus was not in control of the donations and could not share a penny from the fund to anyone.

“The private sector donors are not giving any cash to the federal government and they have made this clear to the people.

“They said they will support the fight against the pandemic by asking government where they want healthcare infrastructure to be provided.

“What government has done is to request them to build a 30-bed isolation ward and a 10-bed Intensive Care Unit in each state in the country.

“In addition, the federal government has given them a list of equipment and commodities that will also be needed.

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“Therefore, the issue of using their donations to provide palliative cannot arise,” he said.

Speaking further, Mohammed said Nigeria was leading and remains the best in the whole of Africa in the area of provision of palliative to citizens as the world battles the scourge.

The minister added that the federal government had put a lot of measures in place to cushion the effects of COVID-19 on Nigerians, including food distribution, cash transfers and loan repayment waivers.