By Ebere Inyama
(Imo) Following the near-total freeze on all foreign aid by the U.S government, political analysts are blaming the leaders of beneficiary countries for not ensuring that relief items donated to vulnerable people in the past were equitably distributed.
Speaking during an interview with TruthNigeria, a political analyst and resident of Imo state, Nigeria, Mr. Lawrence Ubarieke, said that nearly half of the food aid and other relief materials donated to vulnerable persons in Nigeria do not reach the intended recipients due to corruption among some public officials.
“The stoppage of foreign aid by the U.S government will lead to an increase in insurgency because the food aid given to the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) keep the youths from entering the streets to cause problems,” he began.
“When the food aid is stopped like this, the youths in the IDP camps will have no choice than to enter the streets,” he continued to say.
“Already we are suffering from the menace of armed herdsmen who have been terrorizing residents in the rural areas. The U.S president stopping the food aid being given to the IDPs is not a welcome development,” Ubarieke said.
“The level of corruption in Nigeria is such that the IDPs receive only about 50 percent of the food aid donated to them but notwithstanding, that 50 percent is helping the society,” Ubarieke continued to say.
“The situation in Nigeria is such that politicians are getting extremely rich, while the masses are getting poorer and based on that, I don’t think President Trump should be blamed.
“He must have been hearing reports about the high level corruption that is going on here, but for him to totally stop the aid coming down here is unacceptable,” he said.
Past Interventions by The U.S Government in Nigeria
In July 2022, U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Beth Leonard, announced the decision of the US government “to invest an additional $55 million in food security relief for Nigerians” as part of President Biden’s recent pledge at the G-7 Leader’s Summit in Germany to protect the most vulnerable nations from an escalating global food crisis.
In August, 2024, the U.S government donated a $27 million humanitarian aid package to assist vulnerable populations hit by food insecurity and climate change impacts in Nigeria.
Distribution Of Relief Items Marred by Corruption
In most states in Nigeria, politicians and traditional leaders assigned to distribute emergency relief items to residents in Nigeria were accused of diverting the items to their family members and political associates.
For instance, in October 2016, the IDPs in Dalori camp in Borno State reportedly told the wife of the Borno State Governor, Nana Shettima, during her visit to the camp that “officials continued to keep them in hunger and deprivation because food items were being stolen secretly from the stores at night and taken to the open market for sale.”
Later in July, 2017, 50 trucks loaded with food and other relief materials meant for internally displaced persons in North-Eastern Nigeria were diverted to an unknown destination, according to a report by PUNCH, prompting the United Nations Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Sahel, Tony Lanzer, to express concern.
In the same vein, hundreds of millions naira worth of relief materials donated to the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp in Adamawa State reportedly vanished from the warehouse where they were kept in September, 2018, amidst allegation that the items were diverted by top government officials.
Government Officials Indicted
In May, 2017, a local councilor, Umar Ibrahim and a member of a camp feeding committee in Maiduguri, Borno State, Bulama Ali Zangebe were jailed for two years for selling 180 bags of rice donated by the Danish Refugee Council for victims of insurgency in the town of Mafa. Later in July 2018, the President of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Danielson Akpan, was impeached for diversion of COVID-19 palliatives meant for students.
In October, 2020, a Lagos state lawmaker, Mojisola Alli-Macaulay, was accused of looting COVID-19 palliatives and using them as birthday souvenir. Mojisola Alli-Macaulay was not investigated by the authorities, rather in July 2024, President Tinibu appointed her as the Executive Director (Operations) of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund.
In the same vein, Mr. Ephraim Inyangeyen who served as the chief of staff to Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State was accused of hoarding food aid donated as COVID-19 palliatives in December 2020 and later used them as Christmas gifts to friends and political associates.
In a report on COVID-19 Fund Management titled “COVID-19 Fund: Fiscal Support, Palliative Analysis & Institutional Response,” published in April 2021, a civic advocacy group, BudgIT disclosed that COVID-19 palliatives were hijacked and distributed among politicians during the Coronavirus pandemic
After examining these allegations and studying the facts on ground, a human rights activist and lawyer, Femi Falana, reportedly “asked the Nigerian Government to apologize to the world for hoarding COVID-19 palliatives meant to be distributed to vulnerable citizens at the peak of the pandemic”.
Ebere Inyama is an Imo state – based conflict reporter for TruthNigeria
