Only Those That Recharge Below 200 Naira Monthly Will Be Given Relief Package – El-Rufai

The Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has said the distribution of relief packages in the state for the month of May, would be targeted at people who recharge their phones with less than N200 airtime a month.

Mr El-Rufai, who spoke Saturday on The Platform on Channels TV, disclosed that coronavirus-impact aid for the month would be worth N2 billion.

This fund, he said, was sourced from private donors and a 50 per cent pay cut imposed on top political appointees and senior civil servants in the state.

“We have obtained data of the people in Kaduna State using their phone recharge purchase records,” he said. “So we believed that anybody that spends less than N200 per month on buying recharge cards on his phone is poor and will need this food for intervention.”

He said those who may be too poor to have phones, community and religious leaders would be engaged to identify them.

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Mr El-Rufai described the distribution of palliatives in April as “abuse of trust” by persons entrusted with the distribution. He said this will change in May.

“We have (their) phone numbers. We have their addresses. We will just call you and deliver these food items to (their) houses,” he said.

“We know that this second round will be more targeted. We will get to those that are really poor from their phone records.” he stated