‘Shambolic’ – ACF Rejects N5 Billion Palliative Fund Granted To States

The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has slammed the Bola Tinubu-led federal government for giving N5 billion as a palliative fund for states to cushion the impact of the petrol subsidy removal.

Naija News reported that President Tinubu, on Thursday, directed the disbursement of N5 billion palliative for each state and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Reacting in an interview with Daily Trust, ACF Spokesman, Professor Tukur Muhammad-Baba, described the palliatives fund to the state government as shambolic and unscientific.

Muhammad-Baba said the government was wrong for giving the same amount to Lagos, Oyo, Kano and Bayelsa states, as their populations and statistics of eligible people differ.

He said, “I am not happy about such blanket distribution of N5 billion to each state. In the first place, there is no basis for the distribution. I mean, if you are looking for poor people, are you allocating the same amount to Bayelsa, Lagos, Oyo, and Kano states, and you expect it to make an impact?

“This shows that we are doing things like what grammar people call ‘hunter’s pack’. You don’t plan; you don’t strategize; you just came out and made an announcement on that. There is no basis for sharing money with states on an equal basis.

“We are talking of poor people, and poor people is a question of proportion; we know there are over 140 million poor people in Nigeria. The number of people suffering from poverty in Lagos, Oyo, and Kano will not be the same as those living in poverty in Bayelsa, Taraba, or Jigawa. So, what is the basis? What impact is it going to make?

“You are accompanying it with 30,000 bags of rice. How many people is that going to reach? Take a state like Sokoto, for example. They have over seven million people by the latest National Population Commission estimate. So, how many people are 30,000 bags of rice going to feed?”

The ACF spokesman noted that the Tinubu government is s implementing a shambolic policy and not working on a definite plan.

He added: “The government is implementing a shambolic policy, you need to come to the aid of the poor people, there is no doubt about it; that is scientific, but you need to do it in such a way that your intervention will not be a drop in the ocean.”