Civil servants to get free cash as govt., reveals cushioning plans
The federal and state government have revealed a Cash Award Policy that would see civil servants receive tax-exempt monetary reward over a six-month period.
The short-term policy aims at ameliorating the hardship currently faced by Nigerians, says Ogun state Governor Dapo Abiodun.
Abiodun had addressed the press at the end of the National Economic Council meeting, led by Vice President Kashim Shettima.
“It was prescribed that it should be implemented for six months in the first instance. And you’ll be wondering why six months.
“The idea is that as much as we’re also particular about ameliorating the pains of our people immediately, a lot of sustainable measures are being put in place and it’s our hope that within now and the next six months, those sustainable measures would have begun to be visible,” he explained.
The Ogun state governor equally revealed that the state government had agreed with the national government to ditch the National Social Register for planned distribution of conditional cash transfers to poor households.
“It is states that are better positioned to do that enumeration to ensure the integrity of the social register,” Abiodun said.
He added, “It is aimed at enhancing the integrity and reliability of the National Social Register and ensuring that resources go to the intended beneficiaries.”
“We also proposed that each state begin to plan towards implementing a cash transfer programme based on their social register of the states.”
The erstwhile Muhammadu Buhari-led administration had drawn up the social register with which it ostensibly distributed cash and food palliatives to poor Nigerians.
TheCornet News had reported that President Bola Tinubu had promised to disburse N8, 000 to 12 million households but currently subjecting the proposed policy to a review following the avalanche of backlash that greeted it. Anambra state Governor Charles Soludo–also part of the briefing said that the extant register was unreliable.
Soludo said, “There’s a big question mark about the integrity of the so-called National Social Register. We have questions about how those names in the register were brought about and I’m sure one question I hear asked is whether it is for the most vulnerable group.”
