Release Of N570bn To State Governments Will Ease Hardship, Says TDF

President Bola Tinubu’s prompt response to the clamour over hunger and hardship, which included the release of N570 billion naira to state governments, is a powerful short-term solution to Nigeria’s current high cost of living.

We acknowledge the President’s action as a continuation of his efforts to proffer viable solutions, both in the short, medium, and long term, towards ameliorating the effects of fuel subsidy removal since the inception of his administration on May 29, 2023.

The disbursement of Nano funds for small businesses, the suspension of import duties on food and pharmaceutical items, conditional fund transfers to three million households, the distribution of 20 truckloads of rice to all states in the federation, and the recent directive to sell crude oil to Dangote and other local refineries in Naira will significantly reduce the country’s rising cost of living in the shortest amount of time.

It is well known that the TDF has repeatedly criticised sub-national governments for failing to complement the Federal Government’s developmental efforts and the President’s interventions to reduce the cost of living as a result of the inevitable economic reforms.

The cluster of far-reaching interventions and actions implemented by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration in the last year to combat the country’s rising cost of living would have had a more positive impact on Nigerians if state and local government administrators had emulated the President’s timely deployment of critical interventions to the people.

We want to emphasise that the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) does not give the Federal Government powers to oversee or supervise the activities of sub-national governments.

We are, however, not happy that policies and interventions by President Tinubu to assuage current hardship, mostly channelled through the state governments, did not reach the intended beneficiaries at the grassroots. This perhaps explains why some uninformed masses were deceived into joining the needless and unwarranted protest against the president.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s release of N570 billion to the 36 states of the Federation is a timely short-term intervention to address Nigerians’ immediate socioeconomic needs and alleviate the unintended consequences of the removal of fuel subsidies.

“We also acknowledge that no time in recent history has so much money and effort been dedicated to cushioning the biting effects of economic hardship on Nigerians as it has been by the Tinubu administration over the last year,” the group claimed.

Massive investments in railways, coastal superhighways, CNG vehicles and technologies, the digital economy through the 3MTT programme, agricultural mechanisation and production, student loans, and unprecedented fiscal autonomy for the 774 local governments are revolutionary steps that will permanently eliminate poverty in the country. And set Nigerians on the path of prosperity and economic abundance.

The difficulties of a symbiotic working relationship between the Federal Government and the Sub-Nationals largely explained Nigerians’ inability to access and benefit from the numerous Federal Government economic interventions that were designed to cushion the painful effects of economic reforms.

Regardless of our understanding of why President Bola Tinubu channelled his multiple economic interventions through state governments, we want to admonish the administration to see the recent protest by the largely uninformed masses as a wake-up call to create its channels to directly reach the country’s teeming populace with future economic aid and support, without involving sub-national governments.

We believe that this innovation will help people access direct federal government interventions with ease, and it will also encourage the sub-nationals to deploy their interventions from the funds allocated to them by FAAC.

Finally, we commend the president for his timely national address to the protesters. The inclusion of the release of N570 billion to states for further intervention, and the earmarking of over N600 billion for direct federal intervention in his speech, are intentional and gratifying and must be commended.

We urge the protesters to suspend any further street action against the government. Their demands were addressed by the president even before they wrongly took to the streets.

They must not allow themselves to be used as willing tools in the hands of those who want to destroy Nigeria and its collective future.