Civil Society Organisations have vowed to monitor the use of the N5bn approved for states to purchase grains and fertilizers for distribution to citizens as part of measures to ease the effects of petrol subsidy removal.
The Director-General of the Civil Society Organisation on Community Advancement and Humanitarian Empowerment Initiative, Kunle Yusuf, revealed this at the inauguration of the new executive management of the group in Abuja on Tuesday.
Yusuf’s remarks come barely three weeks after the National Economic Council approved N5bn for each state and the Federal Capital Territory to procure food items for distribution to the poor in their respective domains.
he said its coordinators would be deployed to states to supervise the implementation and ensure that the palliative reaches the target beneficiaries.
“This new establishment is saddled with the responsibility of committed enhancement and humanitarian empowerment. So it means that like we just said earlier, we are the bridge between the government and the masses, that is the core responsibility of civil society.
“About the palliative of over N5bn that was just released by the government to help the masses, the only thing that CSOs can do is to be part of and supervise the sharing of whatever the government is giving.
“So, we will supervise to ensure that it gets to the real masses. So, I am telling you that in every state we’ll try as much as possible to get involved in ensuring that whatever that is given should be spent judiciously,” he assured participants.
Yusuf also urged the federal government to listen to the Nigeria Labour Congress and meet its demands over the harsh economic realities nationwide.
He said organised labour is only ensuring checks and balances in the system by calling for industrial action in response to the hardship.
“Any country without checks and balances is more or less a banana republic.
“So, if NLC is presenting their case, and they are now protesting accordingly, the government has to look into it. Of course, civil society is also a part of it,” he said.
While calling on the federal government to act on their demands, he insisted that the CSOs would work with the NLC to provide succour to the worst-hit Nigerians.
“This establishment is saddled with the responsibility of community enhancement and humanitarian empowerment.
“We have several civil society organisations and NGOs that are actually on labour, trade and stuff like that. So, we’ll work with them and also see how best to collaborate positively,” the DG promised.
