Dwindling Revenue: Don’t Cancel Proposed Welfare Scheme, Ex-Rep Tells Buhari

Olakiitan Victor in Ado Ekiti

In spite of the shrinking of the revenues accruing to the federal government, a former member of the House of Representatives, Hon.Bamidele Faparusi, has advised President Muhammadu Buhari not to cancel the proposed welfare scheme for poor Nigerians .

Rather than dumping the programme, Faparusi urged Buhari to place high premium on the proposed welfare scheme for vulnerable Nigerians, where each beneficiary will take a monthly stipend of N5,000.

He said the time has come for the fashioning of robust policies by government at all levels for vulnerable Nigerians in the country, saying the neglect being suffered by these category of people could worsen their situation and dash their dreams of becoming somebody in life.

Faparusi, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress begged well-meaning individuals to imbibe the culture of giving to the less privileged in the society, to complement government’s efforts of making lives meaningful to these category of people.

He said this in iyin Ekiti on Thursday while donating palliative items to children of Erelu Adebayo foundation home.

The ex-lawmaker said the welfare scheme remains the flagship of Buhari’s government, urging that the programme should be well executed to favour poverty-stricken Nigerians, especially the grossly vulnerable ones.

The APC stalwart lamented that “apart from government , it is necessary for wealthy individuals to embrace the attitude of giving in order to put simile on the faces of the downtrodden. This is the best legacy one can give to humanity which can attract blessings from God.

“The harsh economic condition of the society occasioned by pervasive corruption of the past administrations could have subjected the less privileged to hunger, starvation and ailments emanating from malnutrition and many other sources.

“So, we have to come to their aids. We must defend their rights. We must fight for them because it is practically impossible for them to fight for themselves. The provision of daily need materials to the children was not political but a directive from God.

Earlier, a social worker in the children home, Mrs Bisola Adeniyi, described the gesture as rare privilege for the children home most especially when the economy of the country was becoming more devastating.

Adeniyi said the food items donated would go a long way in ameliorating the sufferings of the children and reduce perpetual hunger experienced as a result of poor funding of the foundation.