The United Action Front of Civil Society has described President Bola Tinubu’s plan to hand out N8,000 to 12 million households for six months as erroneous and a poorly conceived ploy to hoodwink the masses.
The group lamented the reality of making the same poor citizens of Nigeria take the bitter pill of repaying a wrongheaded loan supposedly being acquired in their interest in the nearest future.
This is contained in a statement issued by Olawale Okunniyi (Veteran Che), Head of the National Coordinating Centre of the group on Sunday.
The civil society said there are indeed enough reasons to conclude that the N8,000 monthly handout to a mere fraction of the poverty-stifled masses would end up as another avenue for the corrupt enrichment of a few people in power as previously witnessed.
“The United Action Front of Civil Society expresses deep concerns over the deceitful palliative pill of Bola Tinubu-led administration of the All Progressives Congress (APC), following its arbitrary and inexcusable hike of the price of premium motor spirit (PMS).
“The leadership of organised platform of the Nigerian civil society unequivocally decries as another grand deceit; the N8,000 monthly handouts proposed by government for the yet to be disclosed (or otherwise covertly selected) 12 million poor and vulnerable households.
“It is no longer in doubt that the N500 million approved by the House of Representatives on Thursday, July 13, 2023, as part of the amendment to the 2022 supplementary appropriation Act for the provision of palliative would be funded through an additional $800 million World Bank loan approved by the Senate.
“It is therefore worrisome that the new administration is treading in the erroneous indebtedness of its predecessor. The United Action Front of Civil Society however laments the reality of making the same poor citizens of Nigeria take the bitter pill of repaying a wrongheaded loan supposedly being acquired in their interest in the nearest future.
“It is also beyond doubt that the meagre monetary palliative could barely feed a family of two for five days considering the fact that the fuel price hike in the name of subsidy removal has deepened the proportion of multi-dimensional poverty in the country.
“The leadership of the organised civil society therefore considers the supposed intervention as erroneous and a poorly conceived ploy to hoodwink the masses, who have been unduly trampled and pauperized by the policy of the APC government under ex-President Muhammadu Buhari; a trend that is sadly being renewed under the new administration.”
