The National Economic Council (NEC) on Thursday, announced that the Federal Government has authorized a grant of N5 billion for every one of the 36 states in the nation.
This funding is intended to support the purchase of grains and provide five trucks of rice to each state, serving as relief measures to alleviate the impact of the fuel subsidy removal.
The information was shared with journalists after the monthly National Economic Council (NEC) meeting, which was chaired by Vice President Kashim Shettima at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
Borno Governor Babagana Zulum clarified that this initiative is a step towards providing temporary remedies to the increased cost of living resulting from the removal of subsidies, as government continued to work with more enduring programmes.
He said the states are to purchase 100,000 bags of rice and beans among other items.
NEC also granted approval for the allocation of 40,000 bags of maize, which will be distributed among the various states.
Furthermore, it instructed the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to provide food supplies to states that share a border with Niger Republic due to the recent political unrest in the nation.
Meanwhile, Anambra State Governor, Prof. Charles Soludo, noted that the process of revising the social register was currently underway. He also highlighted that Nigeria was experiencing an influx of refugees from Niger Republic, which was impacting the equitable distribution of relief measures.
Nevertheless, Senator Uba Sani, the Governor of Kaduna State, clarified that only N2 billion has been disbursed to the states thus far, which falls short of the approved N5 billion amount.
