COVID-19 donations: There’s no coordination - Lawan to FG
- The Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 has been urged to ensure judicious use of donations to combat the coronavirus pandemic
- The Senate president called on the task force to ensure the donations go to only one common platform, not multiple accounts
- According to Ahmad Lawan, there will certainly be inefficiency in the application of such resources if there is no coordination
The president of the Nigerian Senate, Ahmad Lawan has faulted the lack of coordination for the donations from individuals, corporate bodies and institutions to support the fight against coronavirus.
Speaking on Thursday, April 9, at a meeting between the National Assembly leadership and members of the Task Force on COVID-19 headed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation Boss Mustapha, Lawan said the donations should not go to multiple accounts, Daily Trust reports.
In a statement by his spokesman, Ola Awoniyi, the Senate president said many donations have been made and those people would like to see transparency and accountability.
“I believe that we face one critical challenge today in our fight against COVID-19. We have donations made by various organisations, corporate bodies and so on but it is my candid opinion that there’s no coordination.
“The corporate Nigeria, as I was told, as at yesterday (Wednesday), had gathered N22bn, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, I was told, had $28m, the CBN and the banks, I don’t know how much they have. The National Assembly, the ministers and so many individuals and institutions have also made donations," part of the statement read.
Lawan said a central body, not the PTF nor the corporate groups, should receive and manage the funds based on what the Constitution provides for.
According to him, where everybody is just collecting and spending, there will be inconsistencies and duplications. He added that such donations may end up being inefficiently used.
“When people contribute their funds, they want to see such funds properly utilised. They want to see efficiency. They want to see transparency. They want to see accountability and of course, probity in what the funds are used for," he said.
The Senate president called on the task force to ensure better coordination to avoid duplication.
In response, Mustapha said the task force would not be directly involved in the collection, documentation and disbursement of the cash donations for COVID-19 for transparency and accountability.
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A number of corporate organisations and eminent citizens have donated billions to the fight against coronavirus.
Among those who have donated are billionaire businesswoman Folorunsho Alakija who pledged N1 billion and Nigerian entrepreneur and philanthropist Sir Kesington Adebutu has donated the sum of N300 million to the Lagos state government.
Aliko Dangote, Mike Adenuga and other wealthy Nigerians have also made huge donations to the fight against coronavirus.
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