Cleric decries palliatives as social welfare alternatives

The Chief Imam, Lagos State University (LASU) Prof. Sanni Amidu, says the use of palliatives by governments as alternative to social welfare is an indication of “systemic failures”.

Amidu, made this known in an interview with the News men about the palliatives and its bearing on the social psyche of the people.

He said that a better egalitarian and social-economic mobilisation that would aid people in wealth creation should be prioritised by all tiers of government.

“It should be seen in the creation of infrastructures that would be a catalyst to wealth redistribution among the people,” he said.

He noted that the state could not afford to fail in its role of welfare to the people and such should not be replaced with palliatives.

According to him, palliatives as an instrument of relief for the populace is a national indictment and an indication of systemic failures across the political and social landscapes.

“Only a nation of refugees and IDPs should enthuse at the regime of palliatives.

“The deaths and injuries resulting from stampedes across the country illustrate how the social fabric of welfares, care for the vulnerable have broken down completely.

“Commodification of poverty in which the middle class, already wiped out in the Nigerian system, has equally joined the class of beneficiaries of palliatives.

“Worse still is the politicisation of the distribution. The government at all levels should please brace up and be alive to their responsibilities,” he said.