Vice President Kashim Shettima is currently presiding over this month’s National Economic Council (NEC) meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The meeting, which is the third since the inauguration of the Bola Tinubu administration, is being attended by Osun, Lagos, Kaduna, Adamawa, Rivers, Benue, Sokoto, Delta, Ebonyi, Taraba, Nasarawa governors, as well as the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, among others.
Today’s meeting is coming just days before a planned national shutdown—on October 3—by the organised labour unions over what they termed the government’s “failure” to address the suffering of Nigerians through structured post-subsidy programmes.
The last meeting of the NEC approved the distribution of N5bn to each of the 36 states and the FCT to alleviate the hardship that followed the removal of the petrol subsidy on May 29.
After that meeting, the Borno state governor, Professor Babagana Zulum told journalists at the State House that the monies were part of measures to temporarily cushion the resultant high cost of living.
Zulum said the states are to purchase 100,000 bags of rice and beans, among other items, adding that each state will receive five trucks of rice.
The Borno governor revealed that frontier states bordering the Niger Republic are to be assisted with more palliative materials considering the influx of refugees into their domains from the troubled neighbouring country.
