By Tony Okafor, Awka
The Anambra State governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo, has confirmed the receipt of N2 billion from the Federal Government for various interventions to mitigate the harshness of the fuel subsidy removal on citizens.
Soludo announced this on Tuesday 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.
In what looked like a rebuttal to the opposition’s allegation that he had received N5 billion from the federal government as palliatives for the the people of the state, Soludo said he had so received only N2 billion out the N5 billion announced by the federal government to have been allotted to each state of the federation.
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.”
A group under the platform, South East All Progressives Congress Young Progressives Forum, Anambra State Chapter, had about two weeks ago asked Soludo to account for the Federal Government’s subsidy palliatives assigned to the state.
In a statement co-signed by the National Convener of the group, Paschal Candle and others, the group decried that everything about the FG’s palliative was being shrouded in secrecy in Anambra.
The group said without the revelation by the Borno State Governor, Prof. Babagana Zulum, after the National Executive Council meeting held on Thursday, Ndi Anambra would not be aware of such gestures coming into the State.
The group demanded the setting up of a Steering Committee to supervise the judicious distribution of the already released five trucks of rice to vulnerable people across the 21 Local Government Areas of Anambra State.
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?”
Sequel , Soludo in a statement, about a week ago, unveiled various packages of palliatives for the people of the state to cushion the effects of the fuel subsidy removal.
Soludo, in the statement, acknowledged that President Bola Tinubu had rolled out an agenda of palliatives as the response of the Federal Government towards alleviating the scotch of the subsidy removal.
However, Soludo in the statement did not categorically indicate if Anambra State had received its share of the Federal Government palliatives said to have been rolled out across the 36 states of the country; but he assured that Anambra State would partner the Federal Government’s agenda to ensure that its residents would benefit maximally from the federal programmes.
