Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Biodun Oyebanji, on Wednesday announced palliatives to alleviate the effects of the loss of gasoline subsidies on people of Ekiti, including students, employees, and retirees.
According to Chairman of the state Palliatives Committee and Commissioner for Finance, Akintunde Oyebode, the removal of gasoline subsidies is expected to result in temporary difficulties.
However, he stated that appropriate measures would be implemented to mitigate the impact.
Oyebode delivered a speech in the state capital of Ado Ekiti, discussing the outcomes of the committee’s investigation, which included of government officials and many stakeholders, including organised labour.
According to his statement, the palliatives encompassed both the formal and informal sectors, in addition to the senior population.
The commissioner reported that the governor has authorised immediate implementation of the committee’s recommendations.
He listed the interventions to include “payment of one year’s leave bonus for state and local government workers” and as well, “payment of one month’s pension arrears for state and local government pensioners.”
Others, he said, included “implementation of consequential adjustment for workers on GL. 14 to GL. 17 for state and local governments” and “implementation of 90 per cent CONHESS and 100 per cent Hazard Allowance for health workers at the local governments.”
“Implementation of salary parity for clinical staff of the Hospitals’ Management Board, implementation of financial benefits of 2020 and 2021 promotions for state and local government workers.
“Immediate payment of one-month subvention arrears to tertiary institutions and provision of free shuttle buses for workers and students to ease transportation to/from work and school respectively,” he added.
In addition to the already-mentioned interventions, Oyebode stated that the governor approved additional interventions.
These, he said, included “payment of N5,000 as a conditional cash transfer to 10,000 households from August till December 2023 with emphasis on our aged people and inclusion of 10,000 persons in the ‘Ulera Wa’ Health Insurance programme.”
The commissioner added that the governor had also approved “a food distribution programme that will commence this month and the distribution of inputs to farmers as well as financial support to small businesses and our informal sector.”
Oyebode stated that the interventions were made possible by the higher income produced by the three levels of government as a result of the economic benefits of President Bola Tinubu’s difficult decisions, which he claimed were already felt.
