COVID-19 palliatives not hoarded — CACOVID

The private Sector-led Coalition Against COVID-19 (CACOVID) on Monday said the COVID-19 relief materials were not hoarded.

In a statement by Ositia Nwanisobi on behalf of its members, the CACOVID said the materials were being distributed to the beneficiaries in phases.

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It asked citizens to desist from looting the food items and allow the states to distribute to the targeted group across their states.

“The coalition is deeply concerned by the recent event and is urging those involved in the wanton destruction of public and private property to immediately desist from these raids, in order to allow the states to proceed with peaceful and fair distribution of these palliatives to the neediest and most vulnerable in our society” it stated.

It explained that over the past few months, the private sector, through CACOVID, had been working with all states governor, the FCT Minister and the Nigerian Governors’ Forum to procure, deliver and distribute these food relief items to almost two million most vulnerable families (over 10 million Nigerians) across the 774 local government areas of the country as part of the private sector support to the national response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

It noted that the “sheer scale of this nationwide food programme and the timing of the orders and deliveries, which coincided with the lockdowns and reduce movement across the country, compelled CACOVID to roll out distribution in a staggered manner, with states classified in three timed phases, to enable orderly delivery of the needy.”

It further explained that because the CACIVID decided to procure the food directly from the manufacturers, it caused a delay in the distributions as the items had to be manufactured.

“Based on this, CACIVID said, there was a delay in delivering the food items to the state governors.

“Thus, the first delivery didn’t happen until June 2020. It however noted that as at October, a sizeable number of items had been delivered but yet to be attributed by the state governors. Although, it said various states and the FCT had commenced flag-off of the distribution of the food items since early August, 2020, some could not conclude the distribution as they were yet to receive complete deliveries of the items allocated to them.