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From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
House of Representatives has backed President Bola Tinubu’s decision to engage with stakeholders to fashion out the best way to handle the Federal Government’s palliatives to cushion the effects of fuel subsidy removal on the citizens.
The House, after adopting motion by
Dennis Agbo, member representing
Igbo-Eze North/Udenu Federal Constituency of Enugu State, resolved to set up an Ad-hoc committee to collate the views of House members, Civil Society Organizations(CSOs), organized labour, and members of the public, to guide the government in the implementation of the subsidy palliatives.
Agbo, a member of the Labour Party,
had in the motion titled; ‘need for more engagement to choose the best and Acceptable Palliative Option for Nigerians after the removal of fuel Subsidy, ” urged the parliament to go beyond the approval of the 2023 Supplementary Appropriation Acts by ensuring wider engagement of stakeholders on the issue.
According to him, the House should be
concerned about how little the proposed monthly cash hound-out of N8,000 could achieve for a household of five members under the current price regime.
The lawmaker argued that the cumulative cash transfer, “if not supported by increased output, could trigger inflationary pressure that could spiral out of hand, and become motion without movement for both the beneficiaries and for the generality of Nigerian people”.
Furthermore, Agbo posited that the government should focus on other non cash measures such as security of farmers, favourable business environment, mass-transit support, increased access to social amenities like education and healthcare, and rehabilitation of road infrastructure, amongst others. According to him, those will have greater impact, rather than the cash hand-out.
The lawmaker acknowledged the prompt response of Mr President in setting up of the committee rightly composed of the Labour union, representatives of the civil society, experts and members of the public in line with the resolution of the parliament.
He also applauded the state of emergency on food security declared by the President Tinubu, noting that the guarantee of farmers’ security, offtake of output through commodity boards, access to credit and extension services, will certainly boost agricultural output, stabilise food prices and deliver the needed relief to vulnerable Nigerians, in the aftermath of the removal of fuel subsidy.
