FG speaks on plan to release more funds to 20 LGAs with highest COVID-19 cases

The federal government says there are plans to support the 20 local government areas (LGAs) with the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the country.

Sadiya Farouq, minister of humanitarian affairs, disaster management and social development, disclosed this at the presidential task force (PTF) briefing on COVID-19 in Abuja on Monday.

The 20 LGAs, which account for 60 percent of the total number of COVID-19 cases in the country, are in Lagos, Kano, Katsina, Jigawa, Bauchi, Borno, Edo, Ogun and the federal capital territory (FCT).

According to her, there are plans to support vulnerable households in the affected areas with additional cash intervention.

“The ministry is adopting a whole lot of society approach as its strategy to support the poor and vulnerable to regain their livelihood which might have been affected by this pandemic and the lockdown,” she said.

“The ministry will also continue to leverage the structures of its agencies and programmes to provide assistance, going forward, to the people that have been affected by this pandemic and the lockdown.

“We are also in talks with our partners, the United Nations for instance, to see how we can support the communities that are now greatly affected by the pandemic hardest, these 20 local governments that were mentioned and maybe even more, to see how we can support these households with also another cash intervention.

“And also on the humanitarian intervention, we are working now with the department of security service for them to provide us with information as it relates to communities that are most hit or that are facing a humanitarian crisis.”

She noted that the information will help the federal government to provide timely interventions in the affected communities.