The Nigerian Senate President, Senator Godwin Akpabio, announced that all 36 state governors have received an additional N30 billion from the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to address the prevailing food scarcity in the country.
Speaking during a plenary session, the Senate President dismissed the protests in major cities against hunger and hardship, labeling them as politically motivated.
Akpabio emphasized that the recently disbursed funds are separate from the governors’ regular monthly allocations, urging them to utilize the funds exclusively for addressing food shortages and not divert them for other purposes.
He said, “We can see a lot of protests here and there, most of those sponsored protests are not aware of the kind of efforts being made by this senate to tackle the situation together with a joint management team of the federal republic of Nigeria. I must say that unverified report has it that each of the state government in the last few months has received additional N30billion from Federal Inland Revenue Service, outside their normal allocation from the federation account to assist them in ameliorating the food situation, we believed that every state government should utilise the funds so received towards ensuring that food is available.
“This Senate will not rubber stamp anything that will feel is not with the interest of Nigeria,” he added.
Residents of Ibadan in Oyo State on Monday morning blocked major roads to protest against the economic hardship caused by the policies of President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
