The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) has despised the proposed N108bn palliative package for Nigerians across the 36 States, to halt the harsh impact of the fuel subsidy removal policy on the masses.
Speaking to the press after the presidency had announced the palliative package plan, NLC President, Joe Ajaero said FG’s vision can never be actualized, particularly if the palliative would be shared through the State Governors who can barely pay salaries.
Going by statistics, Ajaero said the N108bn, if assumably shared religiously to Nigeria’s approximated population (133 million), it can only give each Nigerian N2,000 and a cup of rice.
“N5bn multiplied by 36 states is going to give you N180bn. So if you divide that with the official figures from the National Bureau of Statistics, which says that 133 million Nigerians are multi-dimensionally poor, and calculate it, you will get about N2,000 each for those who are poor.
“That is the official statistics of the government, but you and I know that the actual figure is more than that. So is that what to celebrate? And then, five trucks or there about, of rice to a state. The poor people of these states cannot get one cup of rice. It will not go round.
“Even if you pick them from the poverty bracket, it will be difficult for them to get one cup of rice. Is that the best we can do? Is that the best approach to governance? So do we look at our people as people we should give one cup of rice and N2,000? Is that palliative?
“Who are the governors you are giving it to? Is it the governors who have not paid minimum wage? Is there any committee to ensure the effective disbursement of that which is very insufficient?” Ajaero asked.
Assistant National Secretary-General of the NLC, Mr Chris Onyeka, said the government must stick to the initial plan of establishing a palliative committee among the Labour union.
“The money will not get to the people, let them share the money as they want but what the NLC agreed with them were certain milestones. The NLC will close its eyes to what the Federal Government is trying to give to the governors.
“To us as far as we are concerned, NLC will still stick to the milestones that we have agreed on, we will insist that those things are discussed and implemented to the letter.’’
“When the Federal Government wants to subvert the instrument of dialogue, it intentionally creates problems. The Federal Government had already started engaging using this instrument when they engaged the NLC; for them now to go and sit down at the level of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum and to go and pretend to give them money is a subversion of social dialogue, subversion of peace, and a subversion of democracy because it is not democratic,” Onyeka gave his 2 cent.
Deputy National President of TUC, Tommy Etim said the Governors could not be trusted, using Covid-19 palliative as an example.
“It is one thing to make pronouncements, implementation is another thing. I am sure you remember what happened to the COVID-19 palliatives in 2020 when foodstuffs were stored in warehouses and kept from hungry citizens. Same thing with the issue of the Paris Club relief fund that some governors went to hide in the bank so that they could get some from it while citizens were starving.
“We need a body that will follow up on the implementation because left to the state governors, the palliatives may not get to places where it should get. We need a body that will make them accountable. We need the citizens to be aware. The body should let everyone know when each state gets its own relief (package). Everyone should know the details that are received by each state, how the packages were distributed,’’ Etim suggested.
Recall that the National Executive Council (NEC) held an emergency meeting on Thursday, August 17, presided over by Vice President, Kashim Shettima, announced that FG had released N5bn palliative for each state of the federation and 180 trucks of rice as part of measures to assuage the pains of the subsidy removal.
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Borno State Governor, Babagana Zulum, further disclosed after the meeting that the N5bn was to enable the state governments to procure 100,000 bags of rice, 40,000 bags of maize and fertilizers to cushion the effect of food shortage across the country.
