N500bn Palliative: Tinubu giving LP, PDP, EU others opportunity to attack, says ethnic leaders

• President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been urged to tackle the aftermath effect of the fuel subsidy removal with assertiveness and proactiveness
• In an exclusive interview with Legit.ng, the global President of Yoruba Council Worldwide, Aare Oladotun Hassan, said Tinubu must deploy a veritable policy direction
• He also urged the President to increase its palliative funds from N8,000 to N50,000 for the 12 million families projected as beneficiaries

FCT, Abuja - Less than 48 hours after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu called for a review of the distribution of the N500 billion palliative to 12 million underprivileged homes, a warning call has been issued to him.

President Tinubu has been urged to consult critical stakeholders to avoid replicating what transpired in the previous administration during the COVID-19 era.

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Speaking to Legit.ng on this matter, the global President of Yoruba Council Worldwide, Aare Oladotun Hassan, said President Tinubu had not done enough to ensure transparency and earn citizens' trust.

He stated that the current administration's actions are giving room for condemnation and criticism from the likes of the Labour Party (LP) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Hassan urged Tinubu to take advantage of his support from the masses and take critical actions that would curb the country's current hardship and chronic poverty.

He said:

"He has promised us renewed hope. We gave him a hundred per cent support, which is why we're still rejigging our faith in our democracy, irrespective of the attacks from the international community through the EU report commission and any other soothsayer trying to tarnish our democracy.

"He earned over eight million votes of citizens, and that made him our President, and nobody can overturn that irrespective of the skirmishes that are going on, and that is not to prejudice the court.

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"Let him (Tinubu) take advantage of the fact that he has the highest support of the citizens. And that is not to say that the naysayers would not continue to wreck provocations, but he's giving the enemies voices to attack; he's giving the opposition in-road for him to be attacked. So, he must, as a matter of urgency, deal with the situation."

Ethnic leaders demand increase in palliative funds

Hassan disclosed to Legit.ng that an official proposition had been made to President Tinubu by all the ethnic groups in Nigeria, demanding that he consult all the critical stakeholders across board and increase the palliative fund to at least N50,000.

He said President Tinubu should listen to the outcry of the Nigerian Labour Congress and the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria by ensuring a proper policy direction.

Hassan said:

"Let the President be assertive in giving us policy direction. You cannot just have a policy without a cognitive direction and with an open demand for patience."

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He noted that President Tinubu should take a timeout and reach out to the masses directly and see how Nigerians are keeping up with the economy.

Hassan also critiqued the current de-floating of the dollar and how the Bureau de Change has taken over the exchange rate market and the price.

Meanwhile, Nigerians have begun to take the heat, hoping that things might go in the right direction when the President releases his ministerial list.

An earlier report by Legit.ng confirms that President Tinubu had already sent the list to the National Assembly for confirmation.

President Tinubu's Ministerial List Arrives At Nigerian Senate

In another development, President Bola Tinubu's ministerial list has been said to have arrived at the Senate on Thursday.

The ministerial list was reported expected to have been read on the floor of the Red Chamber on Wednesday, but the lawmakers went on with their daily business without the list.

President Tinubu is expected to forward the names of his ministers to the cabinet within his first 60 days in office.

Source: Legit.ng