The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), has called for the immediate release of all COVID-19 palliatives and relief welfare materials and provisions in warehouses nationwide.
Condemning the mass looting of palliatives and non palliatives in some parts of the country, the Congress noted that the palliatives, which were procured primarily to assuage the hardship occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic, should be made available to the masses and not hoarded.
President of the NLC, Comrade Ayuba Wabba in a statement released on Monday in Abuja, lamented that many of the palliative provisions were already getting rotten in the warehouses where they were stored, for reasons yet the be ascertained.
In his words: “The Nigeria Labour Congress has followed with keen concern the unfolding incidents across the country of mass storming and looting of relief welfare materials and provisions stored away in different warehouses. These relief palliatives and provisions are believed to have been procured by government to relieve citizens of the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown and the associated hardship.
“It is obvious that the palliative provisions that were procured by government for immediate distribution to the mass of our people at their critical time of need and to assuage the hardship occasioned by the lockdown were hoarded and held back by some government officials.
“While we condemn the ensuing mass looting of both the COVID-19 palliatives and non-COVID-19 palliative materials, we equally deplore the conduct of some government officials who stored away relief materials that should have been distributed to the masses of our people at their very trying times of need. We call on the Federal Government to investigate the conduct of those who hoarded the palliative provisions.
“In order to forestall riotous plundering of the remaining relief palliatives, the Nigeria Labour Congress demands that the Federal Government should order the immediate release of all the welfare provisions and materials to citizens. As we had demanded in the past, the distribution of the palliative provisions should be transparent, and inclusive with active participation of mass-based citizen groups.”
