The Presidency has slammed organized labour for blank statements and generalizing that all 36 state governors are not competent to distribute the palliative from the Federal Government, describing the assertion as ridiculous.
This follows statement from organized labour that the state governors could not be trusted with the N180 billion palliative packages, noting that politicians and not the poor would benefit from the N5 billion largess given to each state government for disbursement to the citizens to cushion the impact of the fuel subsidy removal.
This was made known by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, while featuring on a Channels Television programme, Politics Today, on Friday night.
Ngelale disagreed with the organized labour movement for painting all 36 state governors with the same brush as if all of them are the same, all of them are performing at the same level and all of them have the same competency.
We have to trust the governors
Ngelale said,
- “And by the way, these state governors that the organized labour movement is painting all 36 of them with the same brush as if all of them are the same, all of them are performing at the same level, all of them have the same competency—we know that’s a ridiculous assertion.’’
According to the Presidential media aide, Nigerians should open a window of trust to the state governors in distributing palliatives, adding that they were voted in by the credibility of the people to address their needs.
He said,
- “What we are saying is Nigerians elected these state governors just as they elected the president, and we have to trust the judgment of Nigerians who elected these officials to conduct these activities on their behalf.
- “So, it can’t just be at the outset panicking that they can’t do it. We have to trust them to do the job they were elected to do.”
However, he added that given the “history of maladministration in our country,” such skepticism is expected.
FG to monitor palliative distribution by states
Ngelale also stated that the Federal Government is on standby to monitor the distribution of palliatives – meant to cushion the impact of subsidy removal to Nigerians at the state level.
He said,
- “It is fair to say that there does not need to be a check. There needs to be a means of monitoring which is why federal regulators are involved; which is why we have put in place the palliatives distribution.’’
Ngelale, who admitted that there are possibilities of bad eggs manifesting in the disbursement process, pointed out that President Bola Tinubu is going to enforce a bottom-up approach.
He said,
- “So, what we are doing now is this: yes, the state government is being empowered to the extent that they are implementing some of the palliatives that we are talking about with respect to the delivery of rice and maize to communities across the states and other supplements that are well known by now.
- “But what we are also doing is that from the federal end, we are ensuring that these funds are not just giveaway grants that don’t have to be paid back. First of all, it’s a loan facility.”
