Subsidy Palliatives: Reno Omokri claps for President Tinubu

Reno Omokri, a leading member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has hailed President Bola Tinubu for his recent economic policy following the removal of the fuel subsidy.

Mr Omokri, a staunch critic of the President before he the election is the biggest supporter of the former Lagos State Governor, applauding him for his appointements and recent economic policies.

Recall that President Bola Tinubu had asked the House of Representatives to amend the 2022 Supplementary Appropriations Act to provide N500 billion to fund palliative measures against the impact of fuel subsidy removal.

The request was convened in a letter read by the Speaker of the House, Tajudeen Abbas, during the plenary on Wednesday.

President Tinubu is seeking to extract N500 billion from the N819,536,937,813 supplementary budget.

Former President Muhammadu Buhari introduced the supplementary budget in 2022 for capital projects due to the impact of the floods on farmlands and road infrastructure.

The life span of the budget has since been extended till 31 December.

In a statement, Reno says that the ₦8000 monthly cash amount set aside for 12 million households as fuel subsidy removal palliatives is commendable.

Read his statement below

The plan by President Tinubu to pay ₦8000 monthly to 12 million households as fuel subsidy removal palliatives is commendable. It gives a human face to the harsh economic necessity of petrol subsidy withdrawal.

But to help our nation grow, I would suggest to the President that he ties the ₦8000 monthly payment to the condition that children in recipient families MUST attend school and have their payment vouchers signed by the principal/headmaster of their school proving that they attended school throughout that month, failure of which they will not be paid.

That way, Nigeria will reduce her current population of 20 million out-of-school children. And it will have an immediate impact on our economy, as educated children tend to be healthier, less likely to engage in terrorism and criminality, and also less likely to be teenage parents.

Furthermore, as a nation, we should not only give fish to people experiencing poverty. We should also teach willing Nigerians how to fish.

I, therefore, recommend to the President that he may want to provide free training and business grants (not loans, but grants) to at least half a million Nigerian youths to enable them to start up verifiable small and medium-scale enterprises. Nigeria's situation is similar to that of the United States of the 1930s, and this was how President FDR Roosevelt empowered Americans through the New Deal.

In that way, the President will help Nigerian youths to help themselves as well as to help Nigeria.

Once again, good job, and kudos to the President. If he, however, does wrong, he should also expect knocks.