Abstract
This paper argues that every responsible government has an obligation, to the best of its ability, to ensure an adequate provision of economic welfare and healthcare for its citizens. In view of this global pandemic, the Nigerian government, like many other nations, has urgently developed a plan to provide health and economic assistance to the tens of millions of people who are vulnerable. However, the provision of these palliatives by the government designed to assuage the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the poor and vulnerable Nigerians is not fairly undertaken. Adopting an expository and analytic approach, this paper examines the role of the government in distributing the COVID- 19 relief funds; in doing this, the questions in this paper are in two fronts: firstly, what constitutes vulnerability and who is vulnerable? Secondly, what is the criterion adopted by the government for determining who benefits from these palliatives? Finally, the paper proposes a model for assessing the role of government in the distribution of palliatives from the prism of John Rawls’s principle of distributive justice. This is imperative because the fair distribution of relief funds and benefits from the government will further ease the burdens, and it will fundamentally affect the people’s wellbeing.
Highlights
The wide spread of Coronavirus 2019, otherwise referred to as Covid-19, all over the world is devastating
In the foregoing, attempt has been made to undertake on the spot assessment of the distribution of the Coronavirus 2019 (Covid-19) relief fund in Nigeria
This attempt was guided by the question of vulnerability as well as that of what are the criteria for benefitting from the relief fund? As have been argued earlier, the distribution process, when viewed with an unjaundiced eye, has not been equitable and leaves much to be desired
Summary
The wide spread of Coronavirus 2019, otherwise referred to as Covid-19, all over the world is devastating. It argues on the other hand that even within the context of the distribution of food items, conditional cash transfer (CCT), Trader money, market money and other social welfare schemes, the principle of equality of opportunity which Rawls argues for in his distributive justice should be allowed to play out In this context, the proclivity and inclination to think that one ethnic or religious group is more human than the others and ensuring that the said group benefits from this relief funds to the detriment of the other will be taken care of. The lockdown and stay at home order of the government is given to all citizens, regardless of the ethnic and religious affiliation so, these twin factors should not be used to determine who get what, how and when within the context of the distribution of the Covid-19 relief funds and the question of equality of opportunity
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