President Bola Tinubu has made a commitment to provide a monthly relief payment of N8,000 to approximately 12 million households in Nigeria. The payments will be distributed over a period of six months and aim to alleviate the hardships faced by Nigerians due to the removal of subsidies.
During a plenary session on Thursday, Speaker Tajudeen Abbas read a letter from Tinubu addressed to the House of Representatives. Tinubu explained that the relief payments were designed to assist indigent and vulnerable individuals in meeting their basic needs in light of the increased costs resulting from the subsidy removal.
The letter also sought approval for additional financing to expand the national social safety net program, which has been scaled up by the National Assembly. Tinubu emphasized that the relief payments would have a positive impact on approximately 60 million individuals in Nigeria. To ensure the transparency and credibility of the process, the payments would be made through direct digital transfers to the beneficiaries' accounts.
It is noteworthy that on the previous day, Tinubu submitted another letter to the House of Representatives requesting the approval of N500 billion to mitigate the effects of fuel subsidy removal. The President aims to amend the 2022 supplementary appropriation act to allocate funds for this purpose.
During Wednesday's plenary, Speaker of the House, Hon. Tajudeen Abbas, read Tinubu's letter addressing the request for amending the 2022 appropriation act. The letter, titled "Request for the amendment of the 2022 appropriation act," explained the need for sourcing funds to provide necessary palliatives to alleviate the impact of the recent fuel subsidy removal in Nigeria. Tinubu specifically requested the extraction of N500 billion from the N819.536 billion allocated in the 2022 appropriation act to provide relief measures for Nigerians. The President expressed his hope that the House would promptly consider the request.
