President Bola Tinubu has attributed instances of stampede at palliative distribution facilities in Nigeria to poor planning, quite than financial hardship.
Tinubu whereas talking at a media chat in Lagos on Monday night, argued that the a number of stampedes which have claimed over 60 lives weren’t a mirrored image of widespread starvation as claimed by many critics of his administration.
He mentioned there’s starvation in all places citing examples of meals banks in the USA and the UK.
Backstory
Final week, stampedes in Oyo, Anambra, and Abuja at palliative distribution occasions organised by personal people, claimed over 60 lives and left many severely injured.
- The primary incident occurred in Ibadan, the place 35 kids have been killed in a stampede that occurred at a kids’s celebration within the Basorun space of Oyo State on Wednesday.
- This was adopted by one other stampede on Saturday in Anambra when a crowd of individuals scrambled for baggage of rice distributed by a philanthropist. This reportedly claimed about 20 lives.
- A 3rd incident occurred additionally on Saturday throughout a palliative distribution occasion by the Holy Trinity Catholic Church within the Maitama space of Abuja. This claimed not lower than 10 lives.
- Many commentators and opposition politicians attributed this to widespread poverty and starvation within the nation.
Presidential candidates, Peter Obi, Atiku Abubakar, and Omoyele Sowore blamed poverty induced by insurance policies of the present administration for the stampedes.
Tinubu’s response
When requested to react to the stampedes through the media chat, the president blamed the organisers of the palliative distribution occasions for his or her poor planning.
He mentioned he had been giving palliative at his residence in Bourdillon for the previous 25 years and had not skilled such as a result of he had been “organized and disciplined.”
Tinubu mentioned, “It’s good to provide. I’ve been giving out foodstuff commodities, together with envelopes, in Bourdillon for the previous 25 years. I’ve by no means skilled this type of incident as a result of we’re organized and disciplined. If you already know you don’t have sufficient to provide, don’t try and and even publish it.
“Each society, even in America, they’ve meals banks. In Britain, they’ve meals banks and warehouses. However they’re organized, they at all times stand in line and take turns to gather free meals,” he famous.
What it’s best to know
The President had his first media chat since his inauguration in Could 2023. The chat held in Lagos the place he at the moment is for the Yuletide break.
The President mentioned he had no remorse over his financial reforms such because the elimination of gas subsidy and the floating of the naira.
He additional argued that eradicating the gas subsidy was a type of addressing the corruption within the subsidy regime.
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