wikeRivers State governor Nyesom Wike has accused Nigeria President Muhammadu Buhari of politicising the N10b support fund approved to support the Lagos State Government’s fight against coronavirus.
“It is quite unfortunate that the containment of coronavirus has been politicized by the Federal Government,” Wike tweeted.
“While Lagos State received a grant of N10billion as a commercial hub, Rivers State as the nation’s oil and gas hub that produces a greater percentage of the nation’s wealth has not received any support from the Federal Government.”
Buhari in March approved the release of N10b to Lagos State, the hardest-hit by coronavirus in Nigeria, to curb the global pandemic.
Currently, Nigeria has 232 confirmed cases of coronavirus with 120 of them in Lagos State. Abuja, Nigeria capital city is second with 47 cases.
Twenty-nine of the patients in Lagos State have been discharged after receiving treatments in government facilities.
Osun has 20 cases of coronavirus. Oyo and Edo State has nine cases each. Bauchi has six coronavirus patients. Akwa Ibom and Kaduna State have five cases each. Ogun State has four cases of coronavirus.
Enugu and Ekiti State has two cases each. Rivers, Benue and Ondo State have one case of coronavirus each.
Despite Lagos State being the epicentre of coronavirus in Nigeria, Wike believes the fund given to the country’s commercial hub was born out of politics.
“One wonders why Federal Government should single out a state out of 36 States to give support. Does it mean that support will come when a State has a record of over 50 infected persons before it gets support,” Wike said.
He stated that the government acted in a non-federal manner to have treated Lagos State like it is superior to other states in Nigeria.
“Rivers State is entitled to support from the Federal Government. Every day, we are inundated with letters from the Federal Government to allow oil companies to fly in expatriates to drill Oil,” Wike said.
“This is a Federal Republic. No state is superior to others.”