July 21, (THEWILL) – The National Economic Council (NEC) has unveiled palliative measures for Nigerians to cushion the effects of the fuel subsidy removal.
The measures were part of resolutions reached at the NEC meeting presided over by Vice President Kashim Shettima, at the State House, Abuja, on Thursday.
Among others, the Council agreed on cash transfers to Nigerians using the state social registers subject to state peculiarities.
It unanimously resolved not to use the national social register used by the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to implement its conditional cash transfer, adding that the register had integrity issues as the criteria for its compilation was unclear.
According to the resolutions of the Council, State Governments were directed to reduce the cost of governance in their states.
Also, food items, grains and fertilisers, are to be distributed by State Governments at the rate acquired from National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).
In addition, the Council urged State Governments to initiate policies to tackle the cost of transportation among others.
Some of the resolutions are highlighted below:
1. Negotiate a new minimum wage for workers.
2. Each State should plan towards implementing a cash transfer programme based on the social register of the state.
3. Cash Award Policy for public servants for 6 months.
4. State Governments to pay public servants outstanding liabilities.
5. Government should begin to fund MSMEs with single-digit interest rates.
6. Immediate implementation of the energy transition plan, which means transiting from fossil fuel vehicles to CNG.
Briefing State House Correspondents after the meeting, Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra State, who spoke on the social register, said contrary to what the previous administration projected, it is not possible to digitally transfer money to the poorest of the poor, the majority of whom are unbankable.
Soludo, who was in the company of his Bauchi and Ogun States counterparts, Bala Mohammed and Dapo Abiodun, respectively, noted that beneficiaries of the supposedly transferred cash could not be identified in the villages.
“We need to face the problem of the fact that we don’t have a credible register,” he said, adding that the 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.
Soludo also explained that NEC deliberated on ways to cushion the impact of the recent petroleum subsidy removal.
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