Gwamcee News
Federal Government, on Thursday, approved N180 billion to be shared by the 36 states of the federation, to help them cushion harsh realities, following recent removal of fuel subsidy.
FG disclosed this to State House correspondents after the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting, chaired by Vice President Kashim Shettima at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Shedding light on the approval, Borno State governor, Babagana Zulum, explained that each of the 36 states will get N5 billion from the palliative fund for procurement of sundry food items.
Zulum said the fund is part of measures to bring a temporary cushion to rising cost of living brought by the subsidy removal.
He said the states are to procure 100,000 bags of rice and beans among other items.
Aided by Kogi State governor, Yahaya Bello, Zulum revealed that NEC agreed that frontier states bordering Niger Republic are to be assisted with more palliative materials than others, owing to the influx of refugees into Nigeria, following the crisis in that country.
He said: “NEC met and expressed serious concerns as regards increasing cost of food items, increasing cost of transportation among others as a result of subsidy removal. In order to cushion the effect of subsidy removal, the Federal Government released five trucks of rice to each state last week.
“Furthermore, to cushion the effect of food shortages across the country, the government has approved the sum of N5 billion to be given to each state for the procurement of 100,000 bags of rice, 40,000 bags of maize and fertilizers.”
Also, NEC constituted an ad-hoc committee to engage with the leadership of labour unions to create a forum for dialogue towards resolving issues surrounding petrol subsidy removal across the states.
The committee comprises the Chairman, Nigerian Governors; Forum, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq; Governor of Anambra State, Chukwuma Soludo; Chairman of Progressives Governors’ Forum, Hope Uzodimma; PDP Governors’ Forum Chairman, Bala Mohammed, and Abia State Governor, Alex Otti.
