By Daniel Edu

Daniel Bwala, an aide to the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has commented on the Nigeria Labour Congress’s (NLC) response to the N5 billion palliative allocated to each state by the federal government.

The NLC criticized the palliative, stating that it amounted to just N2,000 and a cup of rice for each poor person in the country. NLC President Joe Ajaero highlighted that when you divide N5 billion by 36 states, it only comes to about N2,000 per person, based on the official statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics, which states that 133 million Nigerians are multi-dimensionally poor.

Ajaero questioned whether giving N2,000 and a small amount of rice was an appropriate approach to governance and whether it adequately addressed the needs of the poor population.

Responding to the NLC’s stance, Bwala stated that organized labor had shown that the N5 billion palliative amounted to just N1,500 per person. He criticized the government’s approach, implying that the amount was insufficient to cover basic expenses like food items in the market.

The NLC’s critique reflects concerns about the adequacy of the palliative measures provided by the government to address the needs of vulnerable citizens during challenging economic times.