The N100m largesse to Chibok parents

How much did the Chibok parents receive from the presidency? “We did not give money to any Chibok parent”, responded the Presidency. But some Chibok parents are claiming that they got various amount of money from the Presidency after their visit to President Goodluck Jonathan on July 22 at the Presidential Villa, by select community leaders and parents of the April 14 abducted 292 schools girls. So who gave them money? Many are interested in the yet another news angle to the Chibok affair. For, since that April 14, the Chibok saga has been in the news and has been making headlines for that matter. Sadly, the affected parents and families have been in tears.
Yet, the new twist to the N100 million purported cash gift is compounding their woes. Already, confusion is pervading. More than 100 days after the kidnap of the schoolgirls, confusion has greeted the state of affairs of the Chibok saga, following the information management or mismanagement. One of the parents in the July 22 Presidential visit told an international news medium that he got only N200, 000. The parent expressed disappointment at what he called marginalised sharing pattern. He insists: ‘I got only N200, 000 out of the said N100 million received by our leaders in Abuja. Some of us got N300, 000 and some less than that’.

This particular parent alleged they were cheated by some of their self-appointed leaders. Another parent who was reportedly screened out of the Chibok –delegation corroborated the foregoing narration saying he got only N7, 000 out of the ‘cash gift’. He had said ‘I was at the farm when they brought the N7, 000 to my house and I collected it. Some of us got even less’. But swiftly, the administration’s spokesman on Public Affairs, Dr  Doyin Okupe refuted the claims. He said ‘the story is absolute falsehood. The President did not give any N100 million to visitors from Chibok.’

What does the government want the Nigerian public and the international community to believe? This is the question begging for answer. One of the community leaders and a member of the House of Representatives who also attended the July 22 meeting, Mr Pobu  Bitrus, said, ‘After we met with the President, the parents were given monies in envelope and that’s all’.
Our immediate reaction to the unfolding stories is that the development leaves a lot to be desired. We state unequivocally that from the planning of the visit to its outcome many stories, particularly on managing information by the government, leave a sour taste.  The government need not be reminded about the doubts created by the politics in the abduction of the girls. Till date, a segment of the Nigerian society finds it difficult to believe the story of the abduction. This is because of different versions of the account created by the Borno state government on the one hand, and the federal government on the other.

Arising from this therefore, is the credibility question. The integrity problem has continued to trail this administration. While we are not saying that we believe all the stories told by the parents and the community leader, on many occasions matters on the Chibok girls have ended in controversies. Perhaps, until the government adopts a refined approach to engage the citizens, telling them things as they happen, public cynicisms will continue to grow. The consequence of loss of confidence on a government is better imagined. Therefore, the administration has a choice to look inward strategically into information and public affairs rather than count on damage control.