Governor Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom State has requested President Bola Tinubu to give the last N3 billion palliative tranche to state governments as promised so they can help the people more now that fuel subsidies have been eliminated.
Eno announced that the Akwa Ibom Government has added N5 billion to the N2 billion and 100,000 bags of rice it had previously received from the federal government when he made the appeal on Wednesday while kicking off the distribution of palliatives at the Government Warehouse in Ikot Ekpene Udoh, Nsit Ubium Local Government Area of the state.
Therefore, he gave the local government chairmen the responsibility of making sure that the palliatives were distributed equally to all the communities’ indigent residents.
Please make sure that the villagers’ residents receive the palliatives. The federal government donated N2 billion, and the state government has added N5 billion,” Eno stated.
According to Eno, the palliative measures include providing buses to transport workers to and from work, paying students with bursaries, and lowering the cost of daily tickets for market women.
Eno gave the committee the responsibility of making sure that the palliatives were distributed to the state’s people, particularly those living in rural towns, and the poorest of the impoverished, regardless of political affiliation.
40 bags of rice would be distributed to the state’s 2,272 gazetted villages, according to Mr. Enobong Uwah, Secretary to the State Government and Chairman of the Palliatives Committee.
In order to ensure the efficient distribution of the palliatives to all state inhabitants, he stated that security will be given across the distribution sites.
He stated that the first group of benefiting local government areas include Nsit Ubium, Nsit Ibom, and Etinan. Subsequently, additional local government areas would receive their benefits at the appointed locations in various local government areas.
Comrade Sunny James, the state chair of the Nigeria Labour Congress, cautioned against diverting palliatives because they are intended for the underprivileged in society.