The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the Trade Union Congress (TUC), and the National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN) have received palliatives from the Cross River State government as relief for the removal of fuel subsidies.
The governor of the state in Southern Nigeria, Senator Bassey Otu, who was represented by his deputy, Mr Peter Odey, flagged off the distribution of the palliatives in Calabar, the capital of Cross River State, southern Nigeria.
In his remarks, Governor Otu urged the different groups under organized labour to conduct the sharing of the food items peacefully to enable those at the grassroots to benefit from the relief materials.
According to him, “The distribution of exercise today is a symbolic one and meant to be shared amongst all people in Cross River State irrespective of political party. The government expects that every household including groups and people in the state will benefit from the food items.
“You can rest assured the committee has a list of all the groups that would be receiving the relief materials across the state. This much I can say is that government is determined to ensure the households get the items in addition to the Ten thousand naira monthly allowance to paid to all state public and civil servants to augment transportation,” Otu emphasized.
He further assured, “Every amount set aside for the palliatives to get to the people, would be utilised accordingly. But, we need the exercise to be peaceful so that it would reach those of our brothers and sisters in the hills of Obanliku up to the riverine communities in Bakassi local government area.”
Equitable distribution
Earlier, the chairman of the Cross River State Palliative Distribution Committee and Secretary to the State Government, Professor Anthony Owan-Enoh said the distribution was based on “the principles of equity, justice and fairness.”
Owan-Enoh said that the committee, from the onset, had conducted its affairs transparently by making public the quantity of items received for distribution including cash receipts as well as identifying the different groups for easy distribution of the relief materials.
The chairman expressed the committee’s resolve to ensure that the food items including cash were distributed in line with the Nigerian President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope agenda and Governor Otu’s People First agenda.
He explained, “We are starting the second phase distribution with the National Youth Council of Nigeria Cross River State chapter and other groups will benefit subsequently.”
In separate reactions, the Cross River State Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Mr. Gregory Olayi and the Chairman of the NYCN, Mr. Owais Obo commended the government for taking steps to ensure that the palliatives were distributed to people residing in remote villages.
They assured that the leadership of the various groups would collaborate efficiently to get the foodstuff to the people and convey the feedback to the committee.
Also speaking, the Director General of the State Emergency Management Agency, SEMA, Mrs. Angela Odey recalled that in August, the government had distributed 3,000 bags of 50kg to 9,609 households in the state.
She appreciated the governor for constituting the distribution committee to guarantee equitable disbursement of the food items as well as commended the National Emergency Management Agency and the Special National Economic Livelihood Emergency Intervention for their support.
The NYCN shared the food items contained in 50kg bags according to the number of local government areas and among its state executives.
