Anambra State Government on Monday, announced strategic steps it is commencing immediately and the long-terms ones, to cushion the harsh effect of the fuel subsidy removal on citizens of the state.
Governor Chukwuma Soludo who made the announcement yesterday in a statewide broadcast, said the palliatives being rolled out by his administration, targets the total population in the state.
Recall that the All Progressives Congress, APC, had yesterday accused Soludo of lack of transparency in the handling of the palliatives provided by the Federal Government, handing it till this weekend to make open, everything it had received as subsidy removal palliatives.
Despite the initial denial by the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Soludo that the state was yet to receive the palliatives, the governor had yesterday said it had already started implementing the palliatives.
Among these palliatives, the Governor noted, will include salary increments and monthly cash awards N12,000 for all civil servants as well as pensioner in the state.
The governor announced that the government will be distributing rice to over 300,000 households in the coming weeks across the 326 wards in Anambra.
“In our foresighted response to the rising inflation, our government had increased the salaries of all public servants by 10% effective January 2023. We have been paying the 10% adjustment since January 2023.
“In addition to the salary increase, we will be paying every pensioner and public servant in the employment of the Anambra State Government and the 21 LGAs (approx. 59,000 persons) for the period September 2023 to December 2023 a monthly flat non-taxable cash award of N12,000. This is to augment their monthly take-home.
“We will continue to clear the backlog of gratuity and pension of our pensioners. Recall that we met 4-year pension and gratuity arrears when we assumed office, which we have been paying since assumption of office.
“Anambra State Government will be distributing rice to over 300,000 households in the coming weeks across the 326 wards in Anambra,” the governor said.
Soludo further announced tax exemptions for the very low income earners, 20% reduction in taxes of transporters in the state, as well as revealed plans to procure CNG-fueled buses, to reduce cost of intra-state transportation for all in the state.
He said, “The following highly vulnerable persons are exempt from all forms of taxation/levies: hawkers; wheel barrow and truck pushers; vulcanizers; artisans, okada drivers; petty traders with capital of less than N100,000; etc.
“The IGR payments of ALL transporters – Keke, Minibus, etc are hereby reduced by 20% with effect from September 01, 2023.
“Basic Education (primary school to JSS3) remain tuition free for all public schools. We are reviewing the plethora of other levies, fees, and charges in these schools. Before schools resume in September 2023, we shall make further announcements to sanitize the system and reduce the burden on our pupils/students and their sponsors.
“Henceforth, we will provide free antenatal services and free delivery services to pregnant mothers in State primary health centres and general hospitals. We will announce a more comprehensive medical package for our residents, especially the senior citizens and children in our 2024 budget.
“We call on the landlords to show empathy to their tenants at this challenging moment and consider easier options for rent payment.”
On transportation, the governor said the government has approved the repair/renovation of all serviceable Public Servants Staff Buses currently under the office of the Head of Service of Anambra State to facilitate the movement of public servants.
He also announced that as part of steps to reduce the cost of transportation for the larger segment of Anambrarians, his government will be applying to purchase many of the CNG-fueled buses to be provided by the Federal Government for intra-state transportation, to reduce the cost of transportation within Anambra.
Soludo further revealed the government’s plans to embark immediately on the repair of existing and purchase of new water boats to ease transportation for our citizens in the riverine local governments.
On his administration’s agenda for the medium and long-term basis, Governor Soludo disclosed that his government recently distributed a total of 1.1 million oil palm and coconut high yielding seedlings to over 100,000 households.
He revealed that he plans to sustain the distribution of one million seedlings per annum over several years in continuation of his government’s revolution to create a new palm-coconut green/industrial ecosystem that will guarantee 500,000 – 1,000,000 households earning N1.5m to N3m per annum, thereby lifting them out of poverty, create wealth and earn foreign exchange for Nigeria.
“We also expect a new industrial complex to process the products, thereby creating more jobs for our youths.
“We are getting ready to deal with the heavy flooding expected to massively affect eight local governments in Anambra soon. We have made arrangements for resettlement of Ndi Anambra living in flood-prone areas. We will take every necessary measure to ameliorate the effects on the victims.
“In the next few weeks, we will be energizing our One Youth Two Skills program by providing a mix of grant and soft loan schemes at a maximum interest rate of 9% per annum through a collaborative initiative between the Anambra State Small Business Agency (ASBA) and its partner development finance institutions. This will benefit about 4,500 of our youths who have recently completed the year-long intensive trainings, and will enable them to become entrepreneurs and employers of labour. We are rolling out about N4 billion for this project.
“We are completing the set-up and funding of the Ward-based Cooperative Initiative for micro-enterprises. We are proposing a revolving loan scheme at near zero interest rate. We are targeting over 100,000 micro businesses.
“Already we employed 5,000 teachers and over 300 medical professionals within our first 9 months in office plus thousands of youths in the security sector. We understand that the teeming unemployed youths remain a potent time bomb. We are committed to recruiting further thousands of youths as teachers for our schools and road/street sweepers and engaging youths in public works.
“We are constructing over 340km of roads across all the 21 local governments and we are poised to continue. We have also started repairs of some “trunk A” federal and state roads, to improve the lives of Ndi Anambra and reduce transportation cost in the State. As we enter the dry season, we will deliberately prioritize palliative works on many of our critical roads to lessen the burden on commuters and ensure more effective traffic management.
“We are working assiduously to improve the Ease of Doing Business in Anambra to attract private sector investment into the State for improved job creation for Ndi Anambra. Security of life and property remain the number one priority of government. We are stepping up measures to deal with touts who inflict pain on our innocent citizens around some major places in the state.
“Finally, we are determined to collaborate with the Federal Government to ensure that Anambra residents benefit maximally from the myriad of palliatives being rolled out by Mr. President, including providing our updated Social Register for Anambra residents to benefit from the FGN cash transfer, applying to attract a conditional grant of N50,000 to at least 1,300 nano business owners in each of the 21 LGAs of the State, supporting MSMEs and Startups in Anambra to apply for N500,000 – N1million soft loan each at 9% pa and repayable over a period of 36 months among others,” the governor concluded.
