Tinubu Gets Reps Approval For N500 Billion Palliatives For Nigerians

By Ayodele Oni

The House of Representatives has approved the request by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for an amendment to the 2022 appropriation act to allow the Government take N500 billion for palliatives to Nigerians to cushion the pains of subsidy removal.

The House approved the President’s request after contributions by members who called for proper utilisation of the funds for the purpose to what it was meant for.

Members took turns to commend the President for taking a bold step to remove fuel subsidy and for showing to Nigerians that he was a listening President.

The House Leader, Julius Ihonvbare, who presented the request to members for debate said the country now has a President who listens to the yearning of the people.

The Minority Leader Kingsley Chinda however said the proper yardstick to measure a government is whether the government is responsible and responsive.

He said approving the palliatives is not the only thing, but that the House should put in place mechanism to monitor the use of the palliatives and ensure that the purpose for which it is meant for is achieved.

President Bola Tinubu had written to the national assembly on Tuesday, requesting the approval of N500 billion for palliatives to mitigate the effect of the recent removal of fuel subsidy on Nigerians.

The request was contained in a letter to the Senate and was read by the Senate President Godswill Akpabio during plenary on Thursday.

The letter is titled “Request for the amendment of the 2022 Supplementary Appropriation Act.”

And it reads: “I write to request the approval of the Senate for the amendment of the 2022 Supplementary Appropriation Act.

“The request has become necessary in order to among other things, source the funds necessary to provide palliatives to mitigate the effect of the recent removal of fuel subsidy on Nigerians.

“The sum of N500 billion had been extracted from the 2022 Supplementary Appropriation Act of N819,536,937,815 for the provision of palliatives to Nigerians to cushion the effect of fuel subsidy removal.”

In a letter accompany the request, President Tinubu explained that 12m families will get N8, 000 over a period of six months to ameliorate the hardships faced by Nigerians as a result of subsidy removal.

In a letter to the House of Representatives read by Speaker Tajudeen Abbas during plenary on Tuesday, Tinubu said it was support to enable poor and vulnerable Nigerians cope with the cost of meeting basic needs.

The organized Labour has however rejected the president’s move, insisting that only an increment in salary and wages can cushion the effect of the subsidy withdrawal.