Funmi Sessi, the chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in Lagos, says the federal government’s plan to give N8,000 to 12 million households for six months will be like a drop of water in the ocean.

Ms Sessi spoke in Lagos on Friday as stakeholders in the sector reacted to the government plan.

“I wonder what it can buy and the services it can render for 30 days,” said Ms Sessi. “N8,000 cannot take care of a family for a week; it is not possible; it is going to be like a drop of water in the ocean.”

President Bola Tinubu, in a request to the National Assembly, had indicated the intention to cater for the welfare of the vulnerable and poor households in the country under the National Safety Net Programme of the federal government.

He said that under the plan, N8,000 would be transferred digitally, monthly, to the accounts of 12 million poor and low-income households for six months.

The monies are expected to stimulate economic activities in the informal sector and improve the standard of living in the beneficiaries’ households.

However, Ms Sessi queried the government on identifying the most affected citizens and how the palliatives would be distributed.

The labour leader, however, urged the president to provide facilities and infrastructure to make Nigerians independent to provide for themselves and their families.

“It should profile those who want to do various agricultural activities, give them the resources and mobilise them so that they can also become employers of labour,” she said.

Also, the president of the Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions, Oluwole Olusoji, said the move was a repeat of the same old process that did not add real value.

“What people need is not cash handouts but subsidised quality of service.

“Subsidised education up to a specified level; access to quality subsidised health services (free for children and established indigent families); subsidised government managed transportation and efficient infrastructure (power, roads and communication) will add better value,“ Mr Olusoji said.

The national deputy president of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, Tommy Okon, said it would be proper to allow the presidential committee on the removal of oil subsidy to conclude its report and arrive at a collective agreement with the organised labour before embarking on any palliative care distribution.

“Otherwise, it will amount to doing exactly what the previous administration did that yielded no positive impact on the environment and economy,” he said.

(NAN)