Kwara Gov Dashes Masses’ Hopes –‘Sorry, We Can’t Feed You All’

Many vulnerable Kwara indigenes who had been hoping on getting a palliative from their state government have had their hopes dashed.

Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq has flatly told them: We cannot feed everybody.

He was reacting to a viral video against alleged poor palliatives meant to ease sufferings of some people observing stay at home directives.

The provision of palliatives has become an integral part of the broad-based approach to cushioning the impact of corona virus across the globe,

While some state governments have been commendable in their reactions, others have been quite disappointing.

But speaking with particular reference to the Kwara case with journalists in Ilorin, on Tuesday, Governor Abdulrazaq said that the online video relating to the intervention of the state governemtn was politically motivated.

The video in question indicted the gesture of the state government to the people as insufficient in terms of the enormity of the challenge created for people by the pandemic and in view of the manner of reaction of other governments.

It allegedly emanated from residents of Asa local government but the government has described it as politically motivated.

“From the footage, you see that nobody showed their faces. It was politically motivated. We traced down people who did to the opposition party.

“This is not the time for partisan politics. You noticed that this thing is not limited to Kwara. The same thing also manifested in Kaduna, Lagos and other states. So, we want to ask people to behave themselves because all hands must be on deck to get to the roots of this pandemic and get it resolved.

“Like the chairman of the palliatives committee, His Royal Highness said, it (the palliatives) is not meant for everybody in the society.

“The government cannot feed everybody. That’s why we’ve left the market open, civil servants are getting their salary. Markets are open, so is the pharmacy. You can get there and buy things. To get a bag of 50kilogramme rice for every Kwaran would cost us about N60 billion.

“There are certain categories of people entitled to these palliatives. Not everyone in all the wards should share it, including civil servants, No. There’s a distinction.

“The Federal Government rolled out its palliatives yesterday in the state, which gave N20,000 to 25,000 people. You can see that it is not all Kwarans that benefitted. Not everyone will benefit. So, I urge everyone to ignore politically motivated videos online. Let’s be proactive, let’s be our brother’s keeper.

The chairman of the palliatives committee, who is also the Emir of Shonga, Dr Haliru Yahaya, said “As far as we’re concerned, nobody who’s qualified had less than a bag of the items given. Everyone concerned, as picked by the committee, deserves one bag of the item. It’s sad to share the content in the bag of rice and start to be making a video out of it.”