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Uche Nwosu, the Former Chief of Staff to the Imo State Governor and President of Ugwumba Leadership Center for Africa, made a plea to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, urging him to consider increasing the subsidy palliatives for 12 million households to ₦30,000 from the current ₦8,000.
While engaging in a telephone chat with newsmen in Abuja, Nwosu appealed to Tinubu, highlighting the significance of robust monitoring and a departure from the norm.
In addition to his appeal, he asked Tinubu to establish a committee comprising members from the Nigerian Labour Congress, National Union of Nigerian Students, market traders, farmers, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to maintain transparency in the initiative.
According to him, ‘First of all, we should appreciate Mr President for raising it from N5,000 by the former President to ₦8,000. The most important thing is that this money is not meant for people who have what they are doing already. If we say the money won’t go anywhere, it means that we have not appreciated those who are on the streets begging for ₦5 to eat.’
‘Although I plead with Mr President to increase this money to ₦30,000, so that the market women would have money to invest as well as others. But what we should be calling for is for Mr President to monitor the disbursement of these funds; the transparency in managing these funds is the most important thing.’
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‘It shouldn’t be business as usual, where monies like these are given to ministries or agencies and at the end of the day nobody gets the money. Most of these agencies have killed us, most of them don’t even step out of their office, they sit in Abuja and do the arithmetic and at the end of the day, the money enters one person’s pocket.’
‘The members of the committee must be people of integrity and people that are ready to serve. With all what Nigerians are going through, there are people who need this palliative, it’s a welcome initiative.’
Nwosu furthered: ‘What the federal government needs to do now is to form a committee and this committee should have market women, students, members of the Nigerian Labour Congress, elder statesmen and women and farmers, so that they can monitor these money.’
‘The names of the people that will benefit from this money should be published in their local government, state and federal level. It should not be that the money is transferred into one account and no one knows who that person is. Committees are essential on this.’
‘NGOs too should be involved, because no minister will sit in Abuja and know what is happening in the grassroots. The minister will depend on people on ground. Mr President should put his foot on the ground and ensure committees are formed.’
‘It does not matter if you have each per state, and make it 37 or 40 committee members, this will show transparency of the initiative. I believe the collaboration with the government and NGOs will show those who need the money most.’
The ₦8000 palliative funds, meant to be disbursed to the citizens, have sparked extensive criticism due to their glaring inadequacy in covering the expenses of a single child, let alone an entire family.
