COVID-19 Lockdown: Ogun State Government stimulus package for 500,000 houses is grossly inadequate and insulting

7th APRIL,2020.

PRESS STATEMENT

NLC, TUC, ULC,AND CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS MUST DEMAND FOR ADEQUATE RELIEF MATERIALS AND PROTECTIVE GEARS FOR THE POOR AND WORKERS IN OGUN STATE.

FOR ELECTED DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEES MADE UP OF REPRESENTATIVES OF LABOUR, WORKERS, ARTISANS, FARMERS, ETC TO OVERSEE THE DISTRIBUTION TO AVOID CORRUPT ENRICHMENT.

The Socialist Party of Nigeria (SPN) Ogun state, calls on the Governor Dapo Abiodun APC-led government of Ogun State, as a matter of urgency, to immediately increase the size of its relief materials and the number of households targeted as beneficiaries. We also demand a special allowance of nothing less than N50, 000 to be given to every working class and poor household in the state. As far as we are concerned, the relief materials distributed so far are grossly inadequate and an insult to the long-suffering people of the state many of whom have had their livelihood cut short as a result of the lockdown. We also call for the provision of hand sanitizers, face masks and other protective gears to the entire populace amidst the raging Covid-19 pandemic.

We insist that democratic committees composed by elected representatives of labour unions, community association, youth groups and pro-masses organizations should be in charge of distribution of the relief materials instead of corrupt capitalist politicians who are always in the habit of stealing and corruption regardless of the occasion.

For us in the SPN, the stimulus package/relief materials which have since been in circulation in some parts of the state is a miserly and miserable five kilograms (5kg) bag, comprising items like rice, beans, soap etc, meant for each Community Development Associations(CDA) across the state. Most of the CDA’s are more than 100 households each! To say the least, this is tantamount to a drop of water in the ocean. The government said, it is targeting 500,000 households, but that a 100, 000 households would be the first set of the beneficiaries! This in a state with a population of at least 5.2million people as at 2013, according to the National Population Commission (NPC) and the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS)!

The inadequacy of the palliative is all the more shocking considering the fact that one of the major reasons the Dapo Abiodun government ‘begged’ President Buhari to postpone the lockdown in Ogun state by 5 days, which was supposed to commence with that of Lagos and FCT, was according to the government to enable it put measures in place to reduce the hardships the lockdown would occasion on the citizens by providing adequate relief materials.

To worsen the situation, this is coming at a period when most workers in the state are owed several months of unpaid backlog of salary arears and allowances (for example TASCE, MAPOLY, ICT Sapade, to mention a few) and the non-implementation of the N30, 000:00k minimum wage by the state government.

The SPN condemns the inadequate preparedness of the state government in the handling of the Coronavirus pandemic in the state. For instance, the state governor had announced the closure of Ogun state borders with her neighbours to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus without putting up adequate palliatives to cushion the negative effect of such restrictions. Even as we write, majority of the state owned hospitals are devoid of safety gear such as face masks, hand washing facilities and gloves.

Not to mention the fact that except a few newly erected isolation centres and equipment, a majority of the hospitals in the State are ill-equipped, hugely underfunded and understaffed, and the health workers are overworked and poorly remunerated. In fact, there are several communities in Ogun state that cannot boast of any standard government hospitals. Despite being in the 21st century, many communities in the state still contribute money to build their own health centres in the absence of government support!

At the same time, while the state government has gone to town mouthing handwashing (and rightly so) as preventative precautions against contracting the Coronavirus, no commensurate efforts have been made to properly fund the state water corporation, to provide pipe borne water to the citizenry.

On the basis of the above, we of the SPN condemn the inadequate relief provided by the Ogun State government. We demand improvement in the relief materials to ensure that every working class and poor households is provided for. SPN also demand the saddling of the responsibility of the distributions of the relief materials upon elected democratic committees composed by representatives of each communities including artisans, farmers , market women, community activists, labour and civil society organizations against the hand- picked officials by the state government to prevent pilferage, profiteering racketeering and other corrupt self-enrichment.

We equally demand the setting up/ building of food banks across all the local governments in the state to be managed by elected representatives of the communities making up the councils. We also call on the state chapters of NLC, TUC, ULC and other trade union leaders to support the demand that the state government provide basic protective gears to all the good people of Ogun state as well as health workers, increase the amount of the relief materials and the number of households to benefit from it, devoid of favouritism and partisanship. And call for the payment of all unpaid salary arears owed the workers, including payment of special Covid-19 allowance and insurance package for the state healthcare workers and the implementation of the N30,000 minimum wage without further delay.

Signed

Eko John Nicholas
Chairman SPN
Ogun state.