The recent looting of warehouses where COVID-19 relief materials were kept in some states has raised questions about the accountability of the affected governors and the Federal Government, OLALEYE ALUKO reports
Just as the dust was settling on the nationwide tension created by the #EndSARS protests, an ugly aftermath has left Nigerians bewildered.
This was the hijacking of the nationwide demonstrations by hoodlums who perpetrated violence, arson and looting.
Some of the targeted places, which beat the imagination of many Nigerians, have been the warehouses where state governments kept COVID-19 relief materials donated by the private sector for disbursement to residents during the lockdown.
The fact that the relief materials, meant for distribution mostly during the first half of the year, are still available in October has cast doubts on the transparency and accountability of the state governments, according to elder statesmen and civil societies who spoke with reporters.
Nigeria, on February 27, 2020, recorded its index COVID-19 case; the cases grew geometrically within weeks, forcing the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), to declare a lockdown in Lagos and Ogun states as well as the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, beginning from March 31.
The COVID-19 pandemic-induced lockdown lasted for about three months, bringing untold hardship, suffering and hunger on Nigerians, which thereafter necessitated the financial interventions of the private sector.
Apart from the N500bn stimulus package set aside by the Federal Government to cushion the effects of the pandemic, the private sector on March 26 established the Coalition Against COVID-19 to assist the government in combating the coronavirus disease in the country.
Till date, CACOVID, as it is called, raised more than N26bn which was mostly used to purchase relief materials, mainly food items. These food items were delivered to state governments for onward distribution to their residents .
Not many Nigerians could remember to what extent the distributions of the relief materials went across the states, as the country later began heaving a sigh of relief following the gradual reduction of COVID-19 cases.
Consequently, not much was heard or said about the relief materials until the events of the aftermath of the recent #EndSARS protests.
The outcome of the protests would be the reign of hoodlums which led to the discovery and looting of COVID-19 warehouses – first in the Satellite area of Lagos State.
On October 22, hoodlums attacked a warehouse where COVID-19 palliatives were stored at Mazamaza community in the Oriade Local Council Development Area of Lagos State.
After the hoodlums gained entrance into the warehouse, they reportedly began looting the COVID-19 palliatives from 8am till noon, leaving the warehouse, located around Monkey Village, a shadow of itself.
The same scenario played out on Friday, October 23, when hoodlums broke into COVID-19 warehouses in Osun, Kwara, Ekiti and Cross River states.
Like wildfire, COVID-19 warehouses in the northern region of Plateau, Bauchi and Kaduna states as well as those in Rivers and Delta states in the South-South, soon became victims of the wanton looting – with attendant loss of lives in some cases.
In the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, at least three women were reported on Monday to have been stampeded to death as looters reportedly invaded a COVID-19 warehouse in the FCT.
Only a few states like Niger were lucky as attempts by some youths to gain access into the warehouses were foiled.
However, many Nigerians have questioned why some state governors allegedly refused to distribute the relief materials amid the biting hunger and suffering of the people.
This was just as many residents across states said the relief materials never got to their areas.
The Head of Transparency International in Nigeria, Mr Musa Rafsanjani, said the affected state governments should apologise to Nigerians, for not being inclusive and accountable in the disbursement of the COVID-19 relief materials.
He said, “First and foremost, we had called for accountability and transparency in the disbursement of the COVID-19 relief materials, from the beginning of the pandemic. We advised state governments to ensure inclusiveness in the committee meant to undertake the distribution. We suggested that this should include the civil society, community, religious leaders and the media.
“Unfortunately, the federal and state governments did not see wisdom in the advocacy we made. They didn’t see reason to prevent the kind of situation we have now found ourselves. Recently, there have been accusations of government officials diverting these relief materials.
“These palliatives were given to Nigerians to support them during the lockdown. But they refused to give them these materials and some of them may have even expired by now. The explanation by the NGF is not a justification for hoarding the materials.
“We do not also support people using the peaceful protests to loot public and private property. This is not in the spirit of democracy and justice in which the protests were organised. We call on the looters to desist forthwith.”
Meanwhile, the looting later went beyond warehouses storing COVID-19 palliatives; state governments-owned food storage facilities and silos were also reportedly looted.
Several states such as Osun, Plateau, Kaduna, Abia, Rivers and Delta were forced to impose curfew to contain the violence and wanton looting perpetrated by the hoodlums.
However, a number of arrests began to take place nationwide even as the Inspector-General of Police, Muhammed Adamu, ordered Commissioners of Police and commanders on Saturday to take charge of their public spaces and end the looting spree.
In Lagos, over 400 persons have so far been arrested by the police and are awaiting prosecution; it happened in other places such as Plateau where 109 persons were apprehended for allegedly invading warehouse.
In states like Kwara, some of the COVID-19 palliatives looters have been taken to court; the police on Tuesday arraigned 71 persons before an Ilorin Magistrates’ Court for their alleged involvement in the looting of CACOVID palliatives at Agro Mall and Cargo Terminal, Ilorin.
They were charged with “criminal conspiracy, trespass, mischief, voluntarily causing grievous hurt, theft and disturbance of public peace and belonging to gang of thieves.”
But the Nigerian Governors’ Forum on Monday denied the allegation that governors hoarded palliatives meant for distribution to Nigerians during the lockdown.
The NGF claimed that some state governors had yet to begin the distribution of the relief materials, while adding that some of the items were reserved for a suspected second wave of the pandemic.
The forum, however, noted that some governors had set up judicial panels of inquiry to look into such cases of looting.
The NGF, in a release, said, “Some of the properties stolen and vandalised, include palliatives set aside for vulnerable members of society.
“Until mid-October, when the NGF had its last meeting, up to 10 states had not participated in the flag-off ceremonies for the distribution of palliatives in their states. This was because the items meant for distribution in these states had not been completely received from CACOVID.
“Some other states that still had palliatives in their warehouses chose to keep a strategic reserve ahead of a projected second wave of Covid-19.”
