President Bola Tinubu has directed the immediate review of N8,000 conditional cash transfer programme envisaged to bring succour to most vulnerable households.
The Special Adviser to the President on Special Duties, Communications and Strategy, Dele Alake, in a statement issued Tuesday said this was in deference to the views expressed by Nigerians against it.
He said the President has also directed that the whole gamut of palliative packages of government be unveiled to Nigerians.
The spokesperson stressed that Tinubu also ordered the immediate release of fertilisers and grains to approximately 50 million farmers and households respectively in all the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
He said the decision became imperative because in the last few days, the conventional and new media platforms have become awash with stories of the government intending to embark on conditional cash transfer to vulnerable households mostly affected by the painful but necessary decision to remove subsidy from petrol.
Alake stressed that the story has been widely reported that the federal government was proposing to give 12 million households from the poorest of the poor N8,000 monthly for a period of six months as government palliative to reduce the discomfort being experienced by Nigerians consequent upon subsidy removal.
According to him, A lot of ill-informed imputations have been read into the programme by not a few naysayers. The Administration believes in the maxim that when there is prohibition, there must be provision.
“Since subsidy, the hydra-headed monster threatening to kill the economy, has been stopped, government has emplaced a broad spectrum of reliefs to bring help to Nigerians.”
he said this promoted the president to issue the new directive, which included the immediate review of the stipends.