Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, the governor of Anambra State, has confirmed receiving N2 billion from the federal government for a number of interventions to lessen the impact of the elimination of gasoline subsidies on Nigerians.
At the 9th (7th Quadrennial) Delegates Conference of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Anambra State Wing, held at Teacher’s House in Awka, the state capital, on Tuesday, Soludo made this announcement.
In what appeared to be a denial of the opposition’s claim that he had been given N5 billion by the federal government as palliatives for the state’s citizens, Soludo claimed that he had actually only been given N2 billion of the N5 billion the federal government had said it would give to each state in the federation.
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Soludo said,“We got so far N2 billion from the federal government though the federal government announced the payment of N5 billion per state and we shall use it to add to our own palliatives in Anambra state.”
About two weeks ago, the Anambra State Chapter of the South East All Progressives Congress Young Progressives Forum requested Soludo to account for the state’s allocation of federal subsidy palliatives.
The group lamented the secrecy surrounding the FG’s approach in Anambra in a statement co-signed by the organisation’s National Convener, Paschal Candle, and others.
The organisation claimed that Ndi Anambra would not have been aware of such signals entering the State had the governor of Borno State, Prof. Babagana Zulum, not made his statement following the National Executive Council meeting on Thursday.
The organisation urged the formation of a Steering Committee to oversee the careful distribution of the five trucks of rice that had already been released to those in need throughout the 21 Local Government Areas of Anambra State.
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The group said ,“We are all aware from the National Executive Council meeting held on Thursday, the Borno State Governor, Prof. Babagana Zulum told Nigerians that the Federal Government had already released five trucks of rice to all states last week and that the N5 billion was approved by Mr President for disbursement to the states to enable each of the states to procure additional 100,000 bags of rice, 40,000 bags of maize and fertiliser to be distributed to the most vulnerable across their various states.
“Without this revelation, Ndi Anambra will not be aware of such gestures coming into the state. Everything is done in secrecy. People are not being carried along. We are wondering why the state government, after receiving the items, refused to announce to the people of Anambra State that it had taken possession of the FG’s palliatives and the cash. We believe that this is a deliberate act by APGA-led government in Anambra State to continue to paint APC in Anambra State in a bad light.
“We cannot fathom the reason why Governor Soludo is finding it difficult to announce the arrival of the federal government palliatives to the state and also why it has been pretty difficult to distribute same or constitute a committee that will take charge of the distribution. Is Governor Soludo waiting for the people of the state to die of hunger before he deems it fit to make the palliatives available to serve its purpose at the right time?”
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Following this, Soludo announced a number of packages of palliatives for the state’s residents in a statement a week ago to help them cope with the elimination of fuel subsidies.
In the remark, Soludo admitted that the Federal Government’s answer to lessening the sting of the subsidy removal was President Bola Tinubu’s programme of palliatives.
While he promised that Anambra State would support the federal government’s agenda to ensure that its citizens would benefit as much as possible from the federal programmes, Soludo did not specifically say in the statement whether Anambra State had received its share of the palliatives that were allegedly rolled out across the 36 states of the nation.
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