Subsidy removal: Trade union says rice, N5bn palliatives allocated to Osun inadequate

The Federal Government’s rice palliatives and the N5 billion allocated to Osun to cushion the effect of fuel subsidy removal are inadequate.

The declaration was made in Osogbo on Wednesday by the Osun chapter of the Federation of Informal Workers Organisations of Nigeria (FIWON).

“The rice distribution and N5 billion will not have any effect on the current situation. How many households will benefit from the rice?

“The most vulnerable will not have access to palliatives.

“As it is now, 90 percent of residents in Osun are vulnerable,’’ FIWON’s State Coordinator, Mr. Ibrahim Olayinka, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

He said a holistic approach like the provision of mass transit vehicles, salary increases for the formal sector of the economy, and a reduction in the pump prices of petroleum products was a better option.

He noted that the informal sector of the Osun economy (except the “Iyaloja, a female market leader), was not represented in the committee set up by the state government to distribute the palliatives.

“Iyaloja is part of the committee, but as for others, we are not included, and that is worrisome,’’ he said.

Olayinka also told NAN that the floating of the Naira and fuel subsidy removal without the necessary measures in place had increased the agony of Nigerians.