Ayodele Olalere
In spite of being the epicentre of the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic in Nigeria, Lagos State, the commercial nerve centre of Nigeria, appears to have been excluded from the Conditional Cash Transfer Scheme of the Federal Government.
President Muhamnadu Buhari ordered the transfer of N20,000 to vulnerable Nigerians under the scheme to cushion the effects of the stay-at-home measures devised to curb the spread of the Coronavirus.
Lagos and the Federal Capital Territory have been the most hit by the virus, followed by Ogun State.
As at April 15, Nigeria has recorded a total of 407 confirmed cases of the virus, with Lagos accounting for almost 200.
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The total lockdown on the state, Ogun, and Abuja has entered its third week.
Yet, data obtained by The Nigerian Xpress
through the International Centre for Investigative Reporting, ICIR, revealed that out of the 1,126, 211 Nigerians that have benefitted from the scheme, Lagos and Ogun residents have not been beneficiaries of the scheme.
A total of 32 states, least hit by the virus and not under total lockdown, have been the beneficiaries, thereby questioning the mode of distribution under the scheme.
Top on the list is Katsina with a total of 133,237 followed by Zamfara with 130,784.
Next is Jigawa with 99,044, Kano 84,148; Plateau 78,430; Kebbi 76,026 and Kogi 58,943. Benue followed with 58,943, Nasarawa; 48,687 and Kaduna with 35,384.
In the South West, Osun State, with less than 30 confirmed cases has 15,572 followed by Oyo with 13,811, Ekiti 4,709; Ondo 3,812 while Lagos has 0.
In South East, Abia State leads with 9,347 beneficiaries, Anambra 8,105; Imo 7,220 and Enugu 3,305.
Abuja the Federal Capital Territory has 20,129 beneficiaries. Other states with no beneficiaries are Delta and Borno.