For the records, it is very important to clarify that Governor Chukwuma Soludo has since put in place a comprehensive set of palliatives that are in excess of five billion naira to mitigate the hardship brought about by the end of the fuel subsidy regime. It is also crucial to clarify that out of the initial five billion naira announced by President Bola Tinubu to be given to states, it is only two billion naira has been released. This money is partly a loan which the states are expected to pay back forty-eight percent while the Federal Government pays the remaining fifty-two percent.
Governor Soludo as a strategic manager of resources believes that palliatives should go beyond just doling out bags of rice to the people. His focus and determination to deliver a more diverse package that would be of better impact to the living conditions of low income earners cannot be countermanded. A well-thought-through programme for maximum impact will significantly alleviate the economic hardship of the poor and the downtrodden over a sustainable period of time.
It is not in the Soludo style to settle for distributing palliatives only to the urban areas and some rural villages. Soludo ensures that he gets to uncharted areas and erstwhile unreachable zones of Anambra State. Remarkably, Governor Soludo recently undertook the unprecedented journey of discovering the remote island town, Olumbanasa in Anambra West local government area of the state, a place that no former Governor of Anambra State had ever visited.
In reaching out to the people living in Olumbanasa, Soludo has proven that nobody can ever be left out in the distribution of palliatives and sundry dividends of democracy. He dared all the dangers to get into the Igbo and Igala-speaking communities of Olumbanasa, namely: Allah n’Onugwa, Igbedor, Igbokenyi, Odemagu, Ode, and Odekpe.
With Soludo in charge, no community no matter how remote can ever be cut off from getting all the amenities of government. He, in fact, has been nicknamed “Governor Umu Ogbenye”.
As things stand, the thirty-six states were mandated by the Federal Government to mainly use the two billion naira to procure bags of rice, maize and similar food items to be distributed among the people. In this light, Governor Soludo has mapped out a transparent plan to distribute rice to 300,000 households across 326 wards in Anambra State, thus ensuring that it gets to every “Umunnas” at the grassroots.
However, Governor Soludo believes, rightly, that our people shall not live by these rice and corns alone and, therefore, in his palliative programme unveiled a more holistic plan to rejig other departments of living of the people. Before the Federal Government initiative on palliative, Governor Soludo had undertaken without being prodded to increase the salaries of public servants in the employment of Anambra State Government and the Local Governments by ten percent which commenced since January 2023.
Immediately President Tinubu proclaimed the palliative regime, Governor Soludo placed pensioners and public servants on non-taxable cash award of N12,000 monthly from September to December 2023. The game-changer is, of course, the tax exemption given to vulnerable groups such as hawkers, Okada riders, wheelbarrow and cart pushers, vulcanizers, artisans and petty traders with less than N100,000 capital. Another welfare measure taken by the Governor is the declaration of complete free education in public nursery, primary and junior secondary schools. The fees for public senior secondary schools were slashed to N5,000 per session. He also made antenatal care and child delivery services free in all General Hospitals and Primary Healthcare Centres in Anambra State. To ensure that quality services are rendered to these women, special telephone lines were set up for them to call in case they are not satisfied with the standard of service or care they received.
These programmes are in excess of five billion naira when the monetary value is considered. The essence is to make it sustainable over a long period of time.
Written by SIR PAUL NWOSU
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