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CACOVID reacts to looting of palliatives in different states

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Coalition Against COVID-19 (CACOVID), the body that distributed the COVID-19 palliatives being looted by Nigerians in different states has spoken up on the development.

CACOVID, which is an initiative on COVID-19 relief spearheaded by the Central Bank of Nigeria in partnership with the private sector, explained in a statement by its spokesman, Osita Nwasinobi on Monday, why the palliatives were distributed late to many of the states.

Nigerians have been plundering warehouses in different parts of the country where the palliatives were kept.

Many have continued to accuse the government of hoarding the palliatives.

But in its statement, CACOVID said,

“Unfortunately, the very large size of the order and the production cycle required to meet the demand caused delays in delivering the food items to states.”

It said it planned to provide relief for two million households, which would amount to about 10 million Nigerians.

Each household, it said, was meant to receive 10kg bag of rice, 5kg bag of garri/semolina, one carton of pasta, two cartons of noodles, 5kg of sugar and 1kg of salt.

CACOVID explained that it worked with state governors and the minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to make sure the food items got to the beneficiaries.

READ ALSO: I have forgiven those who accused me of hoarding Covid-19 palliatives –Farouq

On the time the delivery of the food items started, CACOVID said that the first set of distribution did not start until June.

It added that the delivery was staggered and that delivery to different states did not happen at the same time.

“As of October 2020, a sizeable portion of the items had been delivered but yet to be distributed by governors.

“Although various states and the FCT had commenced flag-off of the distribution of the food items since early August, some could not conclude the distribution as they were yet to receive complete deliveries of the items delivered to them.

“As of today (Monday), October 26, 2020, some states have confirmed completion of their distribution while others were in the process of proceeding with the distribution before these lootings took place,” it said.

CACOVID promised that it was going to publish the full delivery schedule and flag-off date for each state.

It added that KPMG, its external auditor, would soon complete the audit of all donations as well as food and medical items procured.

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