Senate asks Presidency to increase beneficiaries of palliatives

The South-East Senate Caucus in the National Assembly has called on the Presidency to increase the number of beneficiaries as well as amount paid as palliatives during the coronavirus pandemic lockdown.



The Chairman of the Senate caucus and former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, stated this on Sunday, adding that the expansion of the Federal Government’s Conditional Cash Transfer programme would make it to “impact a more significant number of indigent Nigerians.”

Ekweremadu, who represents Enugu West Senatorial District, said, “I call on the Presidency to consider increasing the number of beneficiaries as well as the amount given to individual beneficiaries in the Conditional Cash Transfer programme in order to impact a more significant number of indigent Nigerians.”

Ekweremadu, however, stressed the need for the government to marshal out plans to deal with the long-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy.

He added that the Governors of the South-East region must continue to take proactive measures despite the “comparatively low cases in the region.”