MURIC LAUDS BUHARI’S N500BN SOCIAL WELFARE PACKAGE

9^th December, 2015,

PRESS RELEASE:

MURIC LAUDS BUHARI’S N500BN SOCIAL WELFARE PACKAGE

President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday submitted a three-year fiscal policy agenda termed Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) to the Senate in which he proposed a budget of N6.04 trillion for the 2016 fiscal year.

Buhari’s MTEF unveiled a N500 billion social welfare package targeting students, former youth corps members and the vulnerable in society.

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) commends this bold welfare programme. It is unprecedented in the history of our country. This is a real dividend of democracy for the man in the street. With this initiative, Nigeria is well on the way to rubbing shoulders with the big democracies of the world.

We urge the National Assembly to embrace the initiative without any hesitation and to give it a speedy approval. We charge opposition parties to avoid politicizing this package. Unlike the seasonal stomach infrastructure, this programme is capable of encouraging small scale entrepreneurship thereby reducing poverty among Nigerians. It is indeed a budget of hope.  

We call on Nigerians to reciprocate the good gesture of the Buhari administration by supporting the war against corruption and all other projects of the Federal Government. In addition, we charge the Nigerian Labour Congress, Nigerian students, the press and all other progressive unions to rally behind Buhari’s people-friendly administration.

Professor Ishaq Akintola,
Director,
Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)
08182119714