Nasarawa State Governor, Engr. Abdullahi Sule has disagreed with the argument that the proposed N8,000 palliative by the Federal Government would not do much to cushion the effects of the removal of fuel subsidy on poor Nigerians.
The governor, who was a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Friday, insisted that N8,000 is a lot of money for so many poor families in the country who don’t get to see such an amount in a month.
“We were sharing only N5,000 and believe me there were so many people that were waiting for that N5,000 every month. Indeed there were some communities that were able to do some kind of contributions and they were able to do a lot in their various communities.
“So, N8,000 may not be so much money to some people, but it is a lot to so many other people who are from very poor families that don’t see N8,000 every month. So, the only thing is that let us identify those families”, Sule said.
In a meeting on Thursday, the National Executive Council (NEC) agreed on palliative measures for Nigerians.
In the meeting, which was chaired by Vice President Kashim Shettima and also attended by governors of the 36 states of the Federation, the National Economic Council agreed that cash transfers would be done via state social registers instead of national social registers subject to state peculiarities.
Sule admitted that there were issues with the national social register, adding that there were cases where people who were not supposed to be in the social register collecting funds from the government.
He, however, said that the governors are not saying that the national social register should be discarded but that areas where amendments are needed should be looked into.
“There are issues and that is why I think a lot of new governors have been the two-time governors that are there and some of us that have been there have been complaining about it.
“But we are not saying that it should be discarded, we are just saying it should be looked into that and if there are areas of amendments we should amend them”, he said
The Federal Government had proposed to transfer N8,000 to 12 million poor households in Nigeria for a period of six months to cushion the effect of the removal of fuel subsidy on Nigerians.
According to President Bola Tinubu, the money transfer to poor households would have a multiplier effect on about 60 million individuals.
For credibility, the President said the money would be transferred to the households digitally.
