Former governor of
Lagos state, Bola Tinubu has appealed to the federal government to protect
Nigerians from hunger and other disease while fighting the Coronavirus
pandemic.
The APC Chieftain
stated that history will not be kind to the federal government if Nigerians go
hungry amid the Coronavirus pandemic.
In a statement released
on Wednesday April 15, Tinubu averred that social intervention programmes will
only cater for small scale traders and leave out the average salary earners who
lost their jobs because of the lockdown order.
The former Governor
also called for the expansion of the school feeding programme and push for debt
relief.
Tinubu said;
“We dare not
underestimate the twin dangers posed by the virus itself and the economic
consequences of the public health response.
Our goal must be that the people live neither with disease nor in
hunger. This situation presents a historic chance to establish a more
beneficial social contract between the government and the governed.
“If we so utilize
this moment, it will be recorded as a pivotal one in our national history. If
we allow this moment to slip, history will not be obliged to treat us with great
mercy.
“The worst of this
dark potential can be avoided if the government is prepared to act in ways that
not only feed people but protect the basic contours of our private-sector
economy so that it can more quickly revive once normal conditions return.
The APC chieftain
recommended;
Suspension/amendment
of the 5% deficit limit of the fiscal responsibility law which prohibits fiscal
deficit from exceeding 5% of the nation’s gross domestic product. “The best
step would be to suspend the 5% budgetary limit for this fiscal year.
Alternatively, the limit should be raised to 25-30% to allow the federal
government more room to make the minimum expenditures necessary to save the
economy and the people,” he wrote.
Emergency sustenance
payments: This, he said, could be paid to households for monthly needs or as
emergency unemployment insurance to people who can prove they have been laid
off due to the crisis or as payroll support to businesses to help them maintain
staff so they can return to full operation when normalcy returns.
Re-establishment of
agricultural market and commodity boards for strategically important crops to
stabilise farmers’ income and consumer prices.
Import suppression
through luxury taxes, higher tariffs and higher import processing fees due to
the partial closure of ports of entry due to the coronavirus.
Conditional
interest-free loans from the Central Bank of Nigeria to large businesses.
Tinubu said some of the conditions could be maintaining their workforce and
even hiring an extra 10% for two or three months at reduced wages. “These
additional workers should be youth hired under a temporary internship or
training program.”
0 Comments