Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Benjamin Kalu yesterday said that the passage of the N500 billion requested by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will chiefly address the sufferings of Nigerians occasioned by the removal of fuel subsidy while also taking care of other infrastructural challenges brought by the 2022 flood disaster nationwide.
Kalu spoke on the heels of the speedy consideration and approval of Tinubu’s request for N500 billion for fuel subsidy palliatives Thursday’s plenary.
Essentially, the request seeks to amend the 2022 supplementary appropriation act to extract N500 billion from the budget.
The legislation was titled “A Bill for an Act to Authorize the issuance of the sum of (N500, 000, 000, 000.00) five hundred billion, Naira, only from the 2022 Supplementary Appropriations of (N819, 536, 937, 815.00) only for the provisions of palliatives to Nigerians to cushion the effect of fuel subsidy removal”.
Moving the motion for the bill to be read for the second time, the leader of the House, Professor Julius Ihonvbere (APC, Edo) said Nigerians have waiting to hear from the parliament since the removal of the subsidy.
“In a situation where policies are taken leading to expected and unexpected consequences, government has to find means to address the challenges brought by the policy. With the president’s request for funds, Nigerians are waiting to hear from the parliament with so much expectations”, he said.
Debating the bill, the lawmakers commended the president for the quick intervention, noting that many Nigerians alongside the lawmakers have struggled to deal with the effects of subsidy removal.
Also, Hon. Ahmed Jaha (APC, Borno) commended President Tinubu for taking the bold step to remove subsidy.
“It is good to provide funds in order to provide palliatives to Nigerians who are hard hit by the effect of fuel subsidy removal. “The funds provided should be used for the purpose intended not as it has been the practice before when monies appropriated for a purpose are diverted to other areas or outrightly stolen” he said.
Similarly, Leader of the opposition, Chinda supported the quick passage of the bill, considering its positive intentions but cautioned against improper implementation of the palliative programmes.
“As those who speak for the Nigerian people we have actually asked for palliatives on the floor of this chamber. Mr Speaker my dear colleagues, the bill before us is one I believe we will pass with the speed of light.
“However, Mr Speaker, we are also aware as Nigerians that when we talk of palliatives, sometimes we see handouts being given to Nigerians which will end of not having the effect and purpose of palliatives. We commend Mr. President for being responsive to the resolutions of this House by promptly requesting for this money for palliatives for Nigerians.
“Indeed this money has already being budgeted in the appropriation. Therefore, it’s nothing new but the concerns of Nigerians will always be the implementation of these palliatives. We want positive effect on Nigerians.
“We have bills that are skyrocketing, we want palliatives that we give not minimum wage but living wage to Nigerians, a palliative that will allow us breath and not to suffocate the ordinary man as Mr President said. NEPA bill is very high, we want to see a reduction, school fees is high”.
It will be recalled that Tinubu had on Wednesday, July 12, 2023 requested the passage of the N500 billion from the supplementary budget for subsidy palliatives.
Recall also that the national assembly had in December 2022 passed a supplementary budget of N819 billion earmarked for Agriculture – N69 billion.
Similarly, Works ministry was to be given N704 billion, the federal capital territory administration, FCTA, N30 billion while the Ministry of Water Resources got N15.5 billion.
The N819 billion supplementary budget will now be used for the following purposes
The breakdown of the funds indicated that the N500 billion component of the N819 billion was meant for fuel subsidy palliative, N185.2 billion was for ministry of works, N19.2 billion was now earmarked for ministry of Agriculture, N100 million was for ministry of water resources, N35 billion for National Judicial Council, the FCTA to get N10 billion and N70 billion earmarked for the national assembly infrastructure.
Briefing journalist alongside the principal officers of the House after the plenary session, the deputy speaker, Hon. Benjamin Kalu emphasized that what the House passed was to cushion the effect of the fuel subsidy on Nigerians.
He said: “We took a decision today in view of the current pain that everybody is complaining about as a result of the bold steps taken by Mr President. He removed the oil subsidy but not to be insensitive to the ends and the welfare of the people and in line with the provision of the constitution he needed to complete the process by engaging the parliament to do their bit for that particular bill to become act.
But while the debate was going on, there were some presentations that were misrepresented.
“There are various components of that bill. The bill did not speak about one component. That bill which is about N819 billion was not only for palliatives and so, the breakdown was not only for palliatives, discussion was not only about palliatives. The palliatives component of that particular bill was on N500 billion that is to cushion the impact of the oil subsidy, because you know Mr. President from what we understood believes that we can delay gratification for a greater gain tomorrow. So, we suffer a little bit now because of the impact of the subsidy and then when we get our country into autopilot with regards to our economy, we will now begin to enjoy the decision of the oil subsidy.
“But having said that we will feel the pain now, that is what you and I are feeling and the wisdom of Mr President said parliament approve N500 million, let us put it towards making a socio-economic impact directly on the lives on Nigerians. That was what the parliament passed today.
“And I want to assure you that we have done our bit and I am sure the senators will also do their bit today or in few days coming to enable us immediately attack this matter of urgent public importance which is the welfare of Nigerians.
“Other components have to do with Ministry of Works and these monies are domiciled in various ministries.
“The greater component which is the N500 billion for palliatives is with ministry of finance and you have another component which has to do with taking care of alleviating the severe impact of flooding that took place in 2022 and affected various road infrastructure across the nation, that component is receiving about N185 billion or thereabout.
“Other components have to do with the massive destruction of our farmlands which was as a result of flooding that we experienced and that sector will be receiving outside the N500 billion for the palliatives, that sector will be receiving about N19.2 billion and it is going to be domiciled or housed by federal ministry of agriculture.
“And there are other needs of the nation that were also captured in the other components of the bill including the judicial service commission which is N35 billion and others.
“So, I just wanted to make it clear with the leadership that what we did today was not just for the palliatives so that the narrative that will be out there will not be that we passed palliative bill to take care of the Judicial Commission, to take care of National Assembly.
“And it is the National Assembly infrastructure that we are talking about when we mentioned component that has to do with National Assembly for infrastructure. But the major part of the whole bill we passed today was to help Nigerians who due to the removal of subsidy are feeling the impact.” Vanguard
