Subsidy Removal: Apapa’s Camp Reacts To Tinubu’s Palliative Measures

The Labour Party said its support for the ambitious programme of the federal government to reflate the Nigerian economy with programmes targeted at making the economic life of the population better was laudable and called for cross-partisan support.

According to the Lamidi Apapa-led National Working Committee (NWC) of the Labour Party (LP), the maiden presidential broadcast by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, with respect to addressing the challenges of the petroleum subsidy removal, was all-inclusive and deserved the support of Nigerians.

The statement signed by Dr Abayomi Arabambi, the Spokesperson of the Lamidi Apapa-led Executive of the Labour Party, said the various intervention programmes are pro-Labour and amplified the welfare desire of the Labour Party for the Nigerian Workforce.

The statement reads in part: “The President said the manufacturing sector would be further empowered to deliver goods and services to the country with expansive view and to this end, N75 billion would be deployed to that sector between now and March next year this is an eleven-month timeline for implementation, assessment and results, from which a review would be done.

“More rewarding and labour-friendly approach is the loan at a single-digit interest rate of 9% per annum. In spite of this, the policy extends the repayment period to 60 months. Do the maths, it translates to about Five years.

“That is a labour and productive friendly policy and programme that the Labour party cannot fight because of mere politics but support as our own labour members in the public and private sector are direct beneficiaries of this well laid out plan.

“Another package targeted at production, services, was at the Micro, small and medium enterprises where your husbands, wives, sisters, brothers and friends are playing would be energized with another N124 billion.

“This would encompass N50 billion for conditional grants to 1 million nano businesses between now and March 2024 besides the powering of 1,300 nano businesses in each of the 774 logical governments in Nigeria.

The Labour Party said the programme was inclusive and futuristic as it planned a sustainable recovery towards economic stability even at the grassroots.

“It is important that we see the figure and the huge positive impact such an economic booster does on the very local economy at the grassroots.

“The 1,300 nano businesses have been targeted with N50,000 each translating to  N65,000,000 (Sixty Five Million Naira)  in each local government and N50,310,000,000 (Fifty billion, three hundred and ten million naira) into the grassroots economy as a booster for the growth of the economy.

“Nothing can be more enduring for the economy than supporting the people in a country that needs all the supportive welfare packages to drive innovation and sustainable living. Please note that these measures are sustainable.”