From Esther Akaa, Lafia
The Nasarawa State government has flagged off the distribution of palliatives to cushion the effects of the fuel subsidy removal by the Federal government on citizens of the state.
The Voice reports that the federal government had earlier approved the sum of N5 billion each to states of the federation to reduce the hardship being faced by the citizens following the removal of fuel subsidy by President Bola Tinubu.
Speaking at the flag-off ceremony in Lafia on Tuesday, Governor Abdullahi Sule said the palliatives would given to citizens of the state irrespective of political affiliations.
Sule said for effective distribution of the palliatives, the state government would visit the over 3,000 polling units across the 13 Local Government Areas of the state to distribute bags of rice and maize to its residents.
He said, “On behalf of the federal government, I would like to sincerely apologise to the good people of Nasarawa state because of the hardship created as a result of the removal of petroleum subsidy.
“Today, we are here to begin the distribution of palliatives to residents of the state. You all have been hearing that N5 billion was released by the federal government. Yes, it is true that the amount was approved. But how it will be done is that N4 billion will be given as cash to each state while N1 billion worth of maize will also be given to each state.
“But out of the said amount, we have so far received N2 billion and we are waiting for the remaining palliatives from the federal government. So, we decided to start the distribution exercise to reduce the hardship on our people.
“We will be visiting all our polling units to give the items directly to the people because this is not about politics or a political party. It is for the entire people of Nasarawa State.”
The governor further stated that the state government has engaged the various religious bodies, traditional rulers, community leaders , youths as well as officials of government to ensure a seamless distribution of the items.
In a goodwill message, the Emir of Lafia, Justice Sidi Bage, thanked President Bola Tinubu and gov Abdullahi Sule for thinking alright to give palliative to cushion hardship of the people.
“On behalf of our people, we say thank you to Mr President for thinking alright especially now that times are not quite easy for people since after some of these good policies of government, there is some effects which will definitely as we already assured our people that this is temporary after sometime it will ease off and the good
times would be back to us again, ” he said.
Earlier, the Commissioner for Special Duties on Humanitarian Services and Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs), Margaret Elayo said the palliatives was part of President Tinubu effort towards cushioning the effects of the fuel subsidy removal on the citizens.
She, therefore charged those in charge of the distribution to ensure that the items get to the target beneficiaries.
The Voice reports that the items distributed include 7.5kg bags of rice, packs of spaghetti, vegetable oil, among others.
