- Palliative, to cushion the harsh effects of petrol subsidy removal
- Adamawa government to purchase shuttle buses to convey workers to and fro the state secretariat and for inter-local government transport
Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa has approved N10,000 monthly as palliative for civil servants and pensioners for six months to cushion the harsh effects of the petrol subsidy removal.
The Governor’s Chief of Staff, Dr. Edgar Amos, disclosed this during an interactive session with newsmen in Yola on Wednesday.
Amos, who is the Chairman, Special Committee on mitigating effects of fuel subsidy removal on the residents of the state, said the governor also approved the full implementation of the national minimum wage for local government workers with effect from August.
According to him, the governor also approved the procurement of 70 trucks of maize and 20 trucks of rice for distribution to the people at subsidised rate.
He further said the government would purchase 50 trucks of fertiliser for state civil servants at subsidised rate.
He said plans had been concluded to purchase shuttle buses to convey workers to and fro the state secretariat and for inter-local government transport.
Amos said the measures were part of the recommendations submitted by the special committee constituted to work out palliatives to cushion the effect of the subsidy removal policy.
Similarly, Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun state, has revealed the state government will begin the distribution of a cash palliative of N10,000 to public servants in the state to cushion the impact of the removal of fuel subsidy, with effect from July.
Abiodun disclosed this in an interview, monitored by our correspondent, on Channels Television on Tuesday evening.
The governor noted that the palliative will last for three months and was done in consultation with relevant bodies.
He said, “Paying special allowances is nothing novel or new to the system. It’s just that in this instance, we have designed this alongside the members of our labor unions. We just didn’t wake up one morning and arbitrarily chose to pay them N10,000.
“We sat down with TUC, JNC, and NLC weeks ago. After several meetings, we agreed that N10,000 across board from levels 1–17 will create that immediate relief to civil servants and pensioners that have to move every day.
“This amount will be paid over the next three months in the first instance, because we’ve identified the fact that we need to have an immediate intervention, then an immediate to medium-term intervention, and a long-term intervention.”
“It’s our hope that at the expiration of the first three months, our medium-term intervention plans will have begun to unfold. So we can begin to take out the N10,000 cash palliative. The idea is that this will not be pensionable and, as such, will continue to be regarded as an allowance as against their basic salary and other emoluments.”