Sanusi, CBN and Relief Intervention.

A lot of has been said on the N100 million donations given to victims of the Kano terror attacks by the Governor of Central Bank Malam Sanusi Lamido. The Kano attacks left a death toll of about 150 people, the highest since the Boko Haram attacks started after the 2011 general Elections . Some supporters of the present Administration are of the opinion that the insurgency is sponsored by opposition politicians.

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) held a press confrence accusing the CBN Governor of bias and favoritism. In the past one year, a terrorist group (Boko Haram) acting under the guise of “entrenching sharia Law” in Northern Nigeria unleashed a reign of terror in different parts of the country including the Federal Capital territory Abuja where the groups suicide Bombers attacked and bombed the police HQ and the UN building. Even before the advent of Boko Haram plateau state has been engulfed by Ethno religious crises(to date this strife is still happening on a smaller scale) where thousands have been killed and displaced.
From the views expressed by different shades of opinion, it is pertinent to point out that nobody is against an individual providing succor to the distressed but When the Donor is a public figure representing a governmental institution like the CBN then it becomes an entirely different scenario.

The CBN governor is an indigene of Kano state but by virtue of his position the entire country becomes his constituency. The question that arises here is; Why has the CBN not given relief to victims of same attacks that took place in other states like yobe,Borno,plateau and Niger?
When criticisms started coming the CBN hurriedly gave N25 million to the victims of the Christmas day bombing in Madalla where 35 worshippers were killed by a suicide bomber. This is nothing short of damage control measures.

my concern lies in the fact that the National Emergency Management Agency NEMA is the only Agency allowed by law to handle Relief and Rehabilitation on behalf of the Government of Nigeria both at home and abroad. The CBN could have channeled their donations through NEMA, which has already put a Plan of action in place to handle such issues when the need arises in any part of the country. NEMA under the leqdership of the Director General Alhaji Mohammed Sani Sidi is doing an excellent job with regards to relief intervention for victims of various disasters that occur all over the country by paying for the treatment of survivors and paying compensation to families of dead victims. The need to keep an accurate data on relief interventions need not be re emphasized so channeling donations through the appropriate channel will facilitate the acquisition of such data.

At this juncture we have to find answers to the following

(a)where did CBN get the Funds to use for the donations?

(b) is relief intervention part of the responsibilities of CBN?

(c) where the donations budgeted for ,and what is the criteria for disbursing these sums.

(d) is the CBN aware of the law which recognises NEMA as the only Agency saddled with the responsibility to conduct relief on behalf of the Federal Government ?

It is only when Nigerians get satisfactory explanations to the above questions that the motives of the intervention can be known.

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