TheCable

Peter Mbah, governor of Enugu, on Wednesday flagged off the distribution of palliatives in the state.

The Enugu governor said the palliatives were part of the short-term strategies of fighting poverty.

He added that the medium and long-term plans of his administration are to eradicate poverty in the state in line with his manifesto.

“Part of our vision is to eradicate poverty in Enugu State. And we knew that at the time we were saying that, there was a high rate of poverty in the state,” he said.

“But, a few days into our administration, we have had to contend with a number of policies initiated by the federal government such as the removal of the petrol subsidy, and also the unification of the foreign exchange rates.

“What that meant was that the people we have in our poverty bracket suddenly expanded because their purchasing power declined drastically.

“As a government that is pro-people, we have the quick fix or short-term strategy to reduce the pressure on our people, while still bearing in mind the long-term goal of eradicating poverty, making sure that we introduce strategic programmes that would in the long run get our people constructively engaged, and make a living from such engagements.

“So, what we have simply come to do here today is to present palliatives to the people of Enugu State, particularly our rural poor, urban poor and our downtrodden.

“We have also put a structure in place to make that happen by decentralising the distribution, involving local council leaderships, the town unions, the religious institutions, among others such that once we leave here, these items will begin to get distributed across the 17 local governments from today.”

See photos below.