The federal government has announced a N5 billion palliative for each state of the federation, including the federal capital territory (FCT), to cushion the impact of the removal of the petrol subsidy.
Babagana Zulum, governor of Borno state, made the announcement in Abuja on Thursday when he spoke to State House correspondents at the end of a national economic council (NEC) meeting.
Vice President Kashim Shettima presided over the meeting.
The council is made up of governors of the 36 states, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (BN) and other coopted government officials.
On May 29, in his inaugural speech, President Bola Tinubu said the petrol subsidy regime was over.
“On fuel subsidy, unfortunately, the budget before I assumed office is that no provision is there for fuel subsidy. So, fuel subsidy is gone,” the president had said.
Following Tinubu’s comments, huge queues resurfaced at filling stations in some parts of Nigeria — a situation the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) blamed on panic buying.
On July 30, the federal government said it was working on measures to ease the effect of petrol subsidy removal on the masses.
In a nationwide broadcast on July 31, Tinubu said he “understands the hardship” Nigerians have gone through since the removal of the petrol subsidy.
Owing to the policy, organised labour embarked on a nationwide strike to reject what they described as the inability of the federal government to provide adequate palliatives for workers.