Imported User:
Niger state government has released N275.7 million as compensation to people who lost their property during the subsidy removal protests in parts of the state.
The protest led to the razing of both public and private property in Minna, Bida and Mokwa parts of the state.
The announcement for the release of the fund, yesterday, at the conference hall of the office of the secretary to the government, was sequel to the report of a committee set up by the state government for that purpose. The committee went round the state to assess the extent of the damage done during the crisis.
The report by the committee revealed that 93 properties belonging to 27 persons and institutions were destroyed.
The Chairman of the Implementation Committee of the Government white paper on the fuel subsidy removal report, Hajia Hadiza Abdullahi, who is also the state Commissioner for Water Resources said that the government was only giving assistance to the victims because no amount of money could pay for what they had lost.
She said that government wanted the beneficiaries to use the assistance received to replace what they lost.
Consequently Hadiza said government has set up a monitoring committee to see to the usage of the money as government expected that the people would fix most of the damaged properties within three months.
The highest beneficiary of the compensation paid and the owner of the burnt Governor’s campaign office, Alhaji Aliyu Maka, who collected a cheque of N50million for his property burnt in the centre of Minna commended the boldness of the government for assisting the victims and said that the administration has shown that it was people’s friendly.
