The organised labour has knocked the Federal Government led by President Bola Tinubu for releasing a N180billion palliative package to states to cushion the impact of the fuel subsidy removal. This is comings as Nigerians lack trust in their leaders, and should not be blamed going by the palliative that were channelled through the state governors during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
The Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress insisted that the governors could not be trusted, noting that politicians and not the poor would benefit from the N5billion largess given to each state government for disbursement to the citizens.
Recall that the Federal Government on Thursday announced an N5billion palliative for each state of the federation and 180 trucks of rice as part of measures to assuage the pains of the subsidy removal. The policy, which led to sharp and multiple increases in fuel pump prices, has driven up the prices of goods and services, pushing millions of Nigerians into poverty, and worsening the socio-economic situation in the country.
The development also triggered nationwide protests by organised labour, which insisted on the repair of refineries as a precondition for the subsidy withdrawal. But announcing the release of the palliative at the end of the 135th National Economic Council (NEC) meeting presided over by Vice President Kashim Shettima in Abuja, the Borno State Governor, Babagana Zulum, disclosed that the N5billion 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.
He added that considering the urgency in meeting the need to mitigate the skyrocketing food prices across the country, the Federal Government had last week released five trucks of rice to each state of the federation. The VP said the committee would liaise with the leadership of labour unions in the country to find a way forward on the emerging issues in the interest of the nation.
The council also received progress reports on the ongoing nationwide distribution of rice, grains, fertilizer, and other items to states and N5billion financial support, provided by the Federal Government and commended the Central Bank of Nigeria and the National Emergency Management Agency for their interventions.
It also noted the various interventions by state governments and urged them to upscale the distribution of palliatives towards alleviating the suffering of citizens, especially vulnerable groups.
The statement read, ‘’During the meeting, details from some accounts of government were revealed such as Excess Crude Account from 19th July to 14th August 2023, $473,754.57; Stabilisation Account from 18th July to 14th August, N30,346,557,405.12 and Natural Resources Account from 18th July to 14th August 2023, N115,175,616,159.65.”
Similarly, the NEC assessed the state of the economy, particularly investment, and the forex crisis, among others.
It stated, “Investment inflows have dwindled since 2019, likewise the country’s investment/GDP ratio; Crude Oil exports and refined petroleum products imports dominate Nigeria’s trade structure; Nigeria’s Naira position against major trading currencies deteriorated; Weak FX supply and heightened demand for imports remains core drivers of exchange rate instability; market volatility persists despite recent FX alignment, driven by pressure on FX demand that widens the gap between official and parallel market rates due to inadequate supply and speculative tendencies; external reserves remain under pressure as external reserves fell by 8.3 percent from 37.1bn in January 2023 to 33.9 billion in July 2023.”
But reacting to the government’s interventions, the Assistant National Secretary-General of the NLC, Mr Chris Onyeka, wondered why the FG was releasing money to governors, many of whom he said had refused to pay the minimum wage.
He dismissed the palliative fund as paltry, noting that it would not get to the intended beneficiaries.
“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.”
