The Owukpa Advocacy Forum (OAF), a non-governmental organisation, has appreciated President Bola Tinubu over his plan to distribute N8,000 as a palliative measure to Nigerians following the removal of petrol subsidy.
On Thursday, Tinubu secured approval of the Senate to borrow $800 million for N8,000 monthly palliative to 12 million low-income households for the period of six months.
According to a statement signed by its national coordinator, David Abakpa Otobo, the group commended Tinubu for his proactive steps taken on a few economic policies put in place so far to change the given a green light based on his campaign mantra ‘Renewed Hope’.
The statement reads: “We congratulate Mr. President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu on his victory in the last presidential election and also thanking him for the bold steps taken so far.
“We have been following his economic policies, agenda and appointments with keen interest. We must commend him for building bridges across the country and his will to revive the dwindled Nigeria economy.
“Mr. President’s declaration of state of emergency on food security yesterday shows that he is a proactive President and leader Nigerians can trust again.”
However, OAF cautioned the Tinubu-led administration not to repeat alleged mismanagement of social security fund running into trillions of Naira, which were unaccounted for under the Buhari-led administration, under N-Power Programme, School Feeding Programme, TraderMoni, and others.
The group said the Tinubu-led administration should identify and disburse the planned N8,000 palliative to ‘vulnerable Nigerians’, and not through anybody.
“However, we are using this medium to advocate and campaign to ensure transparency in the disbursement of the planned N8,000 monthly palliative to 12 million vulnerable Nigerians.
“We don’t want this palliative to go the way other social schemes have gone to the pockets of corrupt politicians at the expense of poor Nigerians.
“We, therefore, call on Mr. President to chair and monitor the selection and the implementation processes by himself to ensure the ‘vulnerable Nigerians’ are not left out of the scheme.
“We do hope that Mr. President will continue to uphold his zero tolerance for corruption and violence in the country to live up to the expectations of the ‘Renewed Hope’ of his party’s campaign slogan”, it added.
