The federal government is committed to alleviating the pain and negative effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on Nigerians through the active implementation of the Economic Sustainability Plan, the president’s senior special assistant in media and advertising rate, office of vice president Laolu Said Akande.
Akande said it Tuesday in Abuja on the morning screen of Channel TV: Sunrise Daily.
He also spoke on occasion the same day at Fresh FM radio station in Ekiti state; Bond FM, Radio One and Metro Radio, all founded in Lagos.
Speaking about the Economic Sustainability Plan (PSA) and how it will lift Nigerians out of poverty, Akande relied on Nigerians that the PSA, which he designed under the Economic Sustainability Committee chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and endorsed by President Muhammadu Buhari. mitigate the negative economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country in 12 months.
According to him, “The plan plans to spend 2. 3 trillion nars to manage the economic benefits of COVID-19 and avoid a deep recession in the country. In this plan, we have safe projects and measures designed to help man. “
Speaking about MSMes’ initiatives, Mr. Akande briefed Nigerians on the recent launch of the PSA Survival Fund. He said: “Next week we will launch the Survival Fund, which is a component of this plan. Starting next week, it will be available and other potential beneficiaries will be able to get more data on https://survivalfund. ng.
“Starting next week, https://survivalfund. ng will be open to Nigerians who have MSMEs or who are artisans, plumbers, electricians, carriers, personal school teachers or who belong to other categories of the survival fund.
Explaining how investment in PSA will be generated, Akande reaffirmed that Buhari’s administration remains able to do much with very little, as evidenced by its efforts to expand social investment infrastructure and programs despite declining revenues than its predecessors.
He added: “There are two main investment resources for the PSA. We have 500 billion nars in the budget and will use the credit structures and amenities of the central bank to strengthen the credit facets of the program, as well as some external concessional loans. “. “
Speaking of emerging inflation, Akande reiterated that times are difficult for Nigeria, Africa and the world and that this has made it more imperative for the administration to channel the budget into the formula to Nigerians, hence Naira’s ESP stimulus.
“With management through the Central Bank’s lending programs, interest rates will be minimal to allow Nigerians to recover. The vital thing right now is to put the cash in people’s hands and we want to do it urgently. “”
The spokesman addressed the value factor of emerging fuels and reminded Nigerians that deregulation of the oil sector occurred in March this year, implying that the value of the fuel is generally decided through the foreign value of crude oil.
“This explains why our local bomb was reduced to 125 N when foreign oil fell into the light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“What we think is that instead of following a regime in which we heavily subsidize the value of fuel, we move the cash we have left to measures that put cash in people’s pockets. “
Going further, he explained: “We don’t even have the type of cash anymore, if you look at the revised 2020 budget, there’s no budget allocation for the fuel subsidy, and our revenues fell sharply by 60%.
“But the main thing is that since 2016, when we started reorganizing the oil sector, Nigerians have discovered that they can buy fuel without long queues. Fuel is available and other people can buy it. “
“We who now inspire everyone to bring petroleum products, eventually costs will go down when we invest more in the sector. That’s what happened during the deregulation of telecommunications. If you don’t forget when it started, other people were buying SIM cards for 50,000 cards. With continued investment in the industry due to its deregulation, costs have fallen to the point where other people now get free SIM cards.
“We have the PPRA that ensures that consumers are protected and that fuel sellers do not have the strength to raise costs indiscriminately, so there is protection. “
Akande talked more about fuel supply through management. He said: “We are working diligently to supply compressed herbal fuel (CNG) and liquefied petroleum fuel (LPG) so nigerians don’t just have the fuel. “
“Some of these projects have been introduced in some states such as Edo and Rivers. There’s a lot of progress in the state of Edo. The government will fund a formula in which other people can turn their fuel cars into gasoline. We’re doing everything we can”. of this to make sure the average Nigerian saves money. “
Speaking about electricity price lists, SSA Media noted that most Nigerians will pay no more for electricity. “When it comes to electricity price lists, most Nigerians won’t pay any more,” he said. less than 8 to 12 hours of electricity per day, your rates will not increase ».
“If you’re asked to pay more in this category, you’ll need to let us know. You have to move to the nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) platforms on Twitter and Facebook and report on what the president said is being implemented.
He added: “The president also said there are mass meters and we start with the five million meter source. The president gave up price lists to bring in the meters so everyone had one because he asked for the end of the estimated billing. “
In addition, the government spokesman explained that ESP also has a physically powerful plan for Nigerians who are not on the power grid. He said: “Most of our other people are not on the net. So, we have a plan to succeed in them. ” We have implemented ESP solar force allocation at a cost of N154 billion and the allocation is expected to supply solar power to five million homes and create 250,000 jobs. “
The president’s incumbent also spoke of the turmoil of industry trade union teams in the face of the situation, saying that we are all on the same boat as the Nigerians. According to him, “the painting is made up of Nigerians, those of us in government are Nigerians, the other people are Nigerians, this country belongs to us all, so we will all communicate and explain why. “
“I will have to tell you that the explanation for why I am serving in this administration is that I know, through my non-public conviction, that the president and vice president have in their hearts the most productive interests of Nigerians. “