Abuja, NIGERIA — Following the removal of the petrol subsidy and the recent hike in petrol prices to up to N617/litre, the National Executive Council (NEC) has agreed to distribute the subsidy palliative using State generated social register and not Buhari’s own because its process of compilation lacks integrity.
The decision was reached on Thursday at a meeting held at the Council Chambers of the State House in Abuja.
The meeting, which was chaired by Vice President Kashim Shettima, had in attendance governors of the 36 states of the Federation, the Director General of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, as well as stakeholders from the World Bank and other agencies of government.
NEC also considered using cash transfers based on state social registers and the peculiarities of each state.
Briefing correspondents, Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra State said contrary to what the Buhari administration projected, it is not possible to digitally transfer money to the poorest of the poor the majority of whom are unbankable.
Flanked by his Bauchi and Ogun State colleagues, Bala Mohammed and Dapo Abiodun, respectively, Soludo noted that beneficiaries of the supposedly transferred cash could not be identified in the villages.
He said NEC resolved that the states should come up with their own registers using formal and informal means to develop it, assuring that all beneficiaries at the subnational level could easily be accessed that way.
“We need to face the problem of the fact that we don’t have a credible register,” he said.
Soludo affirmed that NEC deliberated on ways to cushion the impact of the recent petroleum subsidy removal.
During the meeting, government officials were also encouraged to cut-back on the cost of governance in their various spheres.
This is even as the Federal Government initiated a six-month cash award policy for public servants.
Food items, grains and fertilisers are to be distributed by state governments at the rate acquired from National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and states are urged to double down on energy transition plans in the transport sector.
This is the second meeting of the Council and it is expected to deliberate on the reviewed palliative package for Nigerians following the removal of petrol subsidy as well as the hike in fuel price.
Recall that Tinubu unveiled his plans to distribute a monthly N8,000 transfer to 12 million of the poorest households in the country for six months, in a bid to cushion the effects of the removal of fuel subsidy.
But days after the announcement, the Federal Government said it will review the move following the backlash it generated among Nigerians.
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