The Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, said on Tuesday that his decision to stop feeding during the Muslim fasting period of Ramadan was because the practice had become another avenue for corruption.
The governor had last week announced the decision to discontinue the practice of distributing food items and gifts during Ramadan.
El-Rufai, while hosting religious leaders, had said that the state was broke and in dire need of finances to serve the people better.
The announcement has since attracted criticism from residents.
However, el-Rufai, through his spokesman, Mr. Samuel Aruwan, insisted that he could not spend money that belonged to the state to feed anybody under the guise of religion.
He said the Peoples Democratic Party had over the years used the practice as a conduit pipe to siphon state funds.
He explained that the contracts for the feeding programme were awarded to “super politicians” and that the food items usually ended up in the homes of prominent politicians and government officials in the state while the poor merely feed from the crumbs.
He added that as a true Muslim, he did not believe in using state funds for such practice, but that he would rather pay his mandatory Zakkat meant for such purpose.
The governor said the controversy surrounding the discontinuation of the practice during Ramadan was baseless, saying Muslims, especially the rich, were encouraged to take care of the needy during the period.
He said, “Findings have revealed how it is mainly prominent politicians and influential personalities that benefit from the Ramadan and Christmas gifts instead of the so-called ‘poor’.
“Foodstuffs bought with public resources are distributed to prominent government officials and other personalities, while the poor in whose name those foods are procured queue in droves for crumbs and are constantly subjected to several forms of hardships and degrading circumstances after such sham gestures.
“The hundreds of millions of naira involved have not translated into visible feeding points in Kaduna.”
The governor said he was committed to help the needy in a transparent and sustainable manner and not through fraudulent manner aimed at defrauding the state.
El-Rufai said he had been working with his friends to pool resources to provide Ramadan feeding for the poor as private individuals.
“This is a healthy way of building a caring society, and, if more widely adopted by people of means, will certainly provide for more persons than a fraudulent system of government provision that at best reaches only a few.
“The governor’s position is simple. He will not dip his hands into the public treasury or aid the swindling of public funds using religion as a cover,” he added.
About
The Nigerian Blogger
This is a short description in the author block about the author. You edit it by entering text in the "Biographical Info" field in the user admin panel.
0 comments :
Post a Comment