Coalition for South East Youth Leaders (COSEYL) on Monday called on federal government to use the phone number-linked BVN of persons receiving alerts on Covid-19 to transfer money to Nigerians.
The group said the alerts sent to the phones of Nigerians from Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has conveyed enough on coronavirus hence what people need now is money to soften lockdown hardships.
The groups call was contained in a press release signed by its President-General and Secretary-General, Chief Goodluck Ibem and Comrade Kanice Igwe and made available to journalists on Monday.
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They commended the NCDC, for sending regular information through SMS to Nigerians which kept reminding them of safety tips to avoid contacting the dreaded coronavirus, COVID – 19.
“These updates from NCDC have greatly assisted most Nigerians to adopt hygienic hand-washing and safety practices, to stay at home and stay safe from being infected. We commend them for a job well done.
“But presently, the most dangerous pandemic that is staring Nigerians in the face to consume and kill them is hunger.
“Most families are subsistence farmers, artisans and low income traders who only depend on their day-to-day income to feed themselves and families.
“This present lockdown has made it difficult for them to fulfill their obligations of providing food and other necessities to their families and households.
“We have noticed that NCDC got the phone numbers of Nigerians without calling on them to fill any form and that the phones they are sending messages to for weeks now are BVN-linked.
“We therefore,call on the Federal Government to as a matter of urgency, use the same method to get account numbers or BVN-linked lines of Nigerians to credit their accounts so that they can get food and other necessities .
“That will help them to stay at home and adhere to the instructions from the text messages and to escape hunger which is a worst killer disease than COVID -19”, they said.
COSEYL said it heard how Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs,Disaster Management and Social Development shared billions of naira to Nigerians which real Nigerians who deserve to get the palliative funds have not seen.
The group said that the sharing of palliative funds only on the radio and television was unacceptable, cannot stand and should stop.
They called on the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Farouk to publish the names of recipients of the alleged funded accounts to clear the doubts of Nigerians.
The NGO said that a situation where some Nigerians received the palliative funds and others in same class did not get any smacks of favoritism and cronyism which is against the provisions of Nigerian constitution.
They urged FG to use the BVN of Nigerians to share the donations and other funds meant as palliatives for the masses because of Covid-19 lockdown imposed hardships.
They called for massive attention to households in the South East because of their very low income levels adding that if government does not want to create another disease through Covid-19, it should act fast now.
