Following a groundswell of criticism and condemnation, President Bola Tinubu, on Tuesday, said his administration will review its earlier planned monthly cash petrol subsidy palliative of N8,000 to 12 million households for six months.
Persecondnews recalls that the administration had announced last week the cash intervention for the vulnerable Nigerians as part of efforts to cushion the effects of subsidy removal by Tinubu on May 29, 2023 at his inauguration as president.
A groundswell of criticisms had greeted intervention with the organized labour describing it as falling short of the level of intervention required to ease the pains of vulnerable Nigerians.
Tinubu, who returned to the country from Kenya on Tuesday, announced the planned review via a statement by the Special Adviser on Special Duties, Communications and Strategy, Mr Dele Alake.
“The President has directed that the N8,000 conditional cash transfer programme envisaged to bring succour to most vulnerable households be reviewed immediately,” he said.
Alake said the new directive was in “deference to the views expressed by Nigerians against it.”
The Senate had on Thursday approved the request of President Tinubu to borrow $800m loan from the World Bank.
It also amended the 2022 Supplementary Appropriation Act to accommodate the provision for N500bn for palliatives to mitigate the effect of petrol subsidy removal on poor Nigerians.
Tinubu said the $800 million loan will be used to cater for the welfare of the vulnerable and poor households in the country under the National Safety Net programme, while the sum of N8,000 will be transferred monthly to the bank accounts of 12 million poor and low-income households for six months.
Immediately, the organized labour and some economists slammed government over the N8,000 palliative.
President Tinubu, however, said the cash programme was not the only item in his relief package for Nigerians.
Therefore, he directed that the whole gamut of palliative package of government be unveiled to Nigerians and for the immediate release of fertilisers and grains to approximately 50 million farmers and households respectively in all the 36 states and the FCT.
“The administration believes in the maxim that when there is prohibition, there must be provision.
“Since subsidy, the hydra-headed monster threatening to kill the economy, has been stopped, government has emplaced a broad spectrum of reliefs to bring help to Nigerians,” Tinubu said.
While reiterating the President’s drive to always prioritise the well-being of Nigerians, Alake cited the signing of four Executive Orders cancelling some classes of taxes and the suspension of the implementation dates of others.
He described the move as Tinubu’s willingness to “continue to be a listening leader whose ears will not be dull to the views expressed by the citizenry.”
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