Ramadan feeding scheme promotes corruption, says el-Rufai

The Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, said
on Tuesday that his decision to stop feeding during the
Muslim fasting period of Ramadan was because the
practice had become another avenue for corruption.
The governor had last week announced the decision to
discontinue the practice of distributing food items and
gifts during Ramadan.
El-Rufai, while hosting religious leaders, had said that
the state was broke and in dire need of finances to
serve the people better.
The announcement has since attracted criticism from
residents.
However, el-Rufai, through his spokesman, Mr. Samuel
Aruwan, insisted that he could not spend money that
belonged to the state to feed anybody under the guise
of religion.
He said the Peoples Democratic Party had over the
years used the practice as a conduit pipe to siphon
state funds.
He explained that the contracts for the feeding
programme were awarded to “super politicians” and
that the food items usually ended up in the homes of
prominent politicians and government officials in the
state while the poor merely feed from the crumbs.
He added that as a true Muslim, he did not believe in
using state funds for such practice, but that he would
rather pay his mandatory Zakkat meant for such
purpose.
The governor said the controversy surrounding the
discontinuation of the practice during Ramadan was
baseless, saying Muslims, especially the rich, were
encouraged to take care of the needy during the period.
He said, “Findings have revealed how it is mainly
prominent politicians and influential personalities that
benefit from the Ramadan and Christmas gifts instead
of the so-called ‘poor’.
“Foodstuffs bought with public resources are distributed
to prominent government officials and other
personalities, while the poor in whose name those foods
are procured queue in droves for crumbs and are
constantly subjected to several forms of hardships and
degrading circumstances after such sham gestures.
“The hundreds of millions of naira involved have not
translated into visible feeding points in Kaduna.”
The governor said he was committed to help the needy
in a transparent and sustainable manner and not
through fraudulent manner aimed at defrauding the
state.
El-Rufai said he had been working with his friends to
pool resources to provide Ramadan feeding for the poor
as private individuals.
“This is a healthy way of building a caring society, and,
if more widely adopted by people of means, will
certainly provide for more persons than a fraudulent
system of government provision that at best reaches
only a few.
“The governor’s position is simple. He will not dip his
hands into the public treasury or aid the swindling of
public funds using religion as a cover,” he added.