PMS Price Hike: Presidency Rolls Out Palliatives, to Pay N5000 Monthly to 1m Nigerians

To cushion the harsh effect of the new pump price of
Premium Motor Spirt, PMS also called petrol on the people, the
presidency is set to implement the N500 billion earmarked in the
2016 budget for social welfare.

A statement by the media spokesperson for Vice President Yemi
Osinabjo, Mr. Laolu Akande in Abuja on Sunday stated "All
together the federal government would be directly impacting the
lives of more than 8 million Nigerians in different social investment
2016 budget spending that would provide succor and be a ready-
made palliative to ordinary Nigerians."

Giving a breakdown of the interventions and palliatives, Akande
said that said that there would "the direct payment of N5000
monthly to one million extremely poor Nigerians for 12 months as
provided for in the 2016 budget for which N$68.7B has been
appropriated."

Similarly, the government has also made available a "direct
provision of very soft loan -cash for market women, men and
traders, including artisans and Agric workers. This would be for a
total of 1.76m Nigerians, without the requirement for conventional
collateral. Some of the traders will likely get about N60,000. A total
sum of N140.3B has already been appropriated for this in the
budget".

The details also showed their there would be "payment of between
N23,000 to N30,000 per month to 500,000 unemployed graduates
who would be trained, paid and deployed to work as volunteer
teachers, public health officers and extension service workers
among other responsibilities. They would also be given electronic
devices to empower them technologically both for their
assignments and beyond".

According to the media aide, "100,000 artisans would also be
trained and paid N191.5B has been set aside for this in the passed budget."
He also said that "At least 5.5 million Nigerian primary school
children -ie starting first in 18 states-three per geopolitical zones-
would be fed for 200 school days under the free Homegrown
School Feeding Programme", as "N93.1B has been appropriated
for this in the 2016 budget."

In this same vein "100,000 tertiary students in Science Technology
Engineering & Maths-STEM, plus Education will partake in the
N5.8B already provided for this education grant in the budget.
Akande stated that "This payment would also be paid directly to
the students."

He stated that these measures that would start in a matter of
weeks would certainly lift the ordinary man from the pangs of
economic hardship and poverty.

"Long before now, the Presidency has made adequate
arrangements in the 2016 budget to ensure that Nigerians are
lifted from poverty and hardship," Akande said, adding that "the
Buhari presidency is keen to ensure that Nigerians are lifted and
that if necessary on an ongoing basis palliatives measures would
always been considered to address the conditions of the people."

Vanguard