The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Administration, Nyesom Wike, said his administration had yet to decide on how to expend the N5bn palliative fund expected from the Federal Government.
This came as he claimed that his administration was considering transportation and food assistance, while also noting that attempts were being made to restore urban mass transportation to the FCT in order to alleviate citizens’ transportation woes.
Wike made the announcement to journalists in Abuja on Monday night, following a closed-door meeting with contractors overseeing multiple projects in the FCT.
“We are yet to decide on what to do with the N5bn palliative. We have not chosen any area yet. Are we going to concentrate on food? But we are thinking that the issue of transportation is very important, particularly the urban mass transit.
“People would like to have easy transportation to go to where they want to go, and if you give them rice and they eat the rice today, what about transportation tomorrow?
“So, we have not come up with what actually we are going to use the money for, but I believe food support and transportation is very key,” Wike said.
The Federal Government had on August 17 announced a N5bn palliative for each state of the federation, including the FCT, to cushion the impact of the removal of the petrol subsidy.