The Nigeria Labour Congress has condemned the hoarding of COVID-19 palliatives by some state governments in the country.
This is as the NLC called for the distribution of all palliatives still stored in different warehouses across the country.
In recent days, residents of states like Lagos, Ogun, Plateau and Edo have been discovering and looting foodstuffs hoarded in COVID-19 warehouses.
Berating the action of the state government to hoard the palliatives rather than distribute it, the NLC in a statement urged the Nigerian Government to investigate the conduct of those hoarding the palliatives.
It also said that some hoarded palliatives were getting rotten while hunger and hardship was growing in the country.
The statement reads, “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.
“The reasons for this have not been made known to the public. We also understand that many of the palliative provisions are already getting rotten in the warehouses where they were stored.
“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.
“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.”
In reaction to the condemnation that had followed the sudden discovery of palliatives, the Nigeria Governors’ Forum defended itself, saying the recent cache of palliatives discovered by citizens in warehouses across the country was kept in anticipation of a second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.
