Labour, experts fault Tinubu’s N8,000 transfer to poor families

The organised labour and some economists have faulted the plan by the Federal Government to transfer N8,000 into the accounts of 12 million vulnerable and poor Nigerians over the next six months to cushion the effects of the removal of subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit, popularly known as petrol.

The Senate had on Thursday approved the request of President Bola Tinubu to borrow $800m loan from the World Bank. It also amended the 2022 Supplementary Appropriation Act to accommodate the provision for N500bn for palliatives to mitigate the effect of petrol subsidy removal on poor Nigerians.

The President requested the two approvals in separate letters read by the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, at the plenary.

According to Tinubu, the $800m loan will be used to cater for the welfare of the vulnerable and poor households in the country under the National Safety Net Programme, while the sum of N8,000 will be transferred monthly to the bank accounts of 12 million poor and low income households for six months.

There is unease in many states of the federation as the effects of the removal of subsidy keep biting Nigerians harder as rising costs of living and commuting have thrown a lot of households into poverty.

It will be recalled that the President announced the end to subsidy payment to fuel importers and marketers at his inauguration on May 29, 2023.

As a result of the announcement, the pump price of petrol was immediately increased by marketers to N500 per litre from N185 with the attendant rise in the cost of transportation, food and other goods and services.

Following threat by the organised labour to embark on a nationwide strike, the Federal Government rallied labour unions and a committee was set up to work out appropriate palliatives. The panel has yet to submit its report although the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria proposed N200,000 as the national minimum wage instead of the current N30,000 to cushion the effect of subsidy removal on workers.

The Chairman, Nigeria Labour Congress, Lagos chapter, Mrs Funmi Sessi, said the Federal Government’s plan was like a drop of water in the ocean.

Sessi spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos on Friday, as stakeholders in the sector reacted to the government’s plan.

The President had in a request to the National Assembly indicated the intention of his administration to cater for the welfare of the vulnerable and poor households in the country under the National Safety Net Programme.

He said under the plan, the sum of N8,000 would be transferred digitally on a monthly basis to the accounts of 12 million poor and low income households for six months.