A former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, has called on the Federal Government to increase the beneficiaries of its Conditional Cash Transfer programme.
President Muhammadu Buhari had, last week, announced the addition of one million households to the National Social Register (NSR) up from 2.6 million.
Ekweremadu said expanding the NSR would impact a more significant number of indigent Nigerians. He spoke at the weekend during the distribution of palliatives to his constituents in Enugu West, according to a statement by his media aide, Uche Anichukwu.
Ekweremadu, represented at the event by the state secretary of PDP, Cletus Akalusi, also urged the Federal Government to increase the amount of its social interventions to lessen the burden of COVID-19 hardship on Nigerians.
He expressed strong optimism that Nigeria and the world would ultimately overcome the existential threat posed by the pandemic.
He, however, stressed the need for the country to marshal out realistic plans to deal with the long-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy.
“It is no longer news that the International Monetary Fund, IMF, has predicted that Nigeria would suffer its worst recession in 30 years as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
