The National Economic Council (NEC) said it considered recommendations from the National Salaries Income and Wages Commission to pay N702bn as cost of living allowance to civil servants as part of intervention plans to mitigate the effects of the discontinuance of petroleum subsidy as announced on May 29, 2023.
The Governor of Bauchi State, Bala Mohammed,
disclosed this to State House correspondents shortly after the inaugural
National Economic Council meeting at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa on
Thursday.
Mohammed also revealed that the intervention
included a recommended sum ranging from N23.5bn to N45bn per month as a
petroleum allowance for civil servants.
Thursday’s announcement came barely two weeks
after President Bola Tinubu directed the governors to concretise various
palliative structures to ease the attendant hardship from the petrol subsidy
discontinuance.
According to him, “The NEC had received
recommendations on the various ways and means that the country can use whatever
increases that we have in the revenue to mitigate the impact that this is going
to make on the lives of our workers.
“And so they recommended that there should be
a consequential adjustment, estimated at N702.92bn as part of the allowances
that should be given as petroleum allowance to all workers and as well as a
N23bn or N25bn monthly offer to cushion the effect on workers.”
The returning governor said the council
received other suggestions to review salaries and wages.
“In addition to the palliative, the government
looked at all the issues, challenges and problems holistically and set up a
small committee of the council to review and come up with a term of reference
to organise areas specifically where this palliative can come from and how it
will be dispensed to alleviate the problem of workers and other vulnerable
groups,” Mohammed explained.
Members of the committee included the
Governor of Kebbi State as chairman; Anambra representing the South-East
geopolitical zone; Governor of Benue, North-Central; Governor of Kaduna,
North-West; Governor of Cross River, South-South; Oyo, South-West; and the
Bauchi State Governor representing the North-East.
Other relevant agencies in the committee are
the Budget Office, representatives of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Office of
the Attorney-General of the Federation, Nigerian National Petroleum Company
Limited, Trade Union Congress of Nigeria and the Nigeria Labour Congress and
Rukayat El-Rufai.
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