Economic hardship, mass hunger: Tinubu unveils N1tn palliatives
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has rolled out palliative measures to assuage the current economic hardship and mass hunger ravaging the country.
With a view to actualising the programme, the president has given all the state governors seven days to provide realistic feedback on their plans to galvanise food production and security in their various states.
The president gave the directive on Thursday at the 142nd National Economic Council meeting attended by state governors and some deputies at the State House, Abuja, the nation’s capital.
He also announced a National Construction and Household Support Programme for families whereby 100,000 families in each state would be getting N50,000 grants for three months, while N155bn would be disbursed for assorted foods and N540bn for household grants.
Also, 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) will get N10bn allocations each for CNG buses.
The N50,000 planned for 3.7 million families across the 36 states and the FCT, the N10bn allocation each for CNG buses in the 36 states and the FCT, including the N155bn spending on assorted foods, are approximately over N1tn.
This is contained in a statement signed by the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Ajuri Ngelale.
The statement is titled: “President Tinubu urges governors to meet target on food security; approves immediate rollout of national construction and household support programme.”
Tinubu who also stressed the imperativeness of boosting food production and security in the country, urged the governors to synergies and meet the citizens’ feeding needs to relief them of the mass hunger.
“We must deliver on our targets at all levels. Please report back following your consultations and submit it to my office within seven days,” Tinubu said.
“How much support do you need from me and in what form? I am prepared to provide it. But we must achieve the result. There is nothing we are doing that is more important than producing high-quality food for our people to consume, buy, and sell. We create jobs in the production of it, and that is before we generate wealth by exporting the excess. It is not beyond us to achieve this for Nigerians,” the president added.
At the Thursday NEC meeting, Tinubu also announced fresh plans to boost agricultural productivity, strengthen the economy by creating opportunities in the real sectors of agriculture, manufacturing, and construction, and provide urgent economic relief for Nigerians.
This includes the immediate rollout of the National Construction and Household Support Programme to cover all geo-political zones in the country.
