Buhari will determine the fate of SURE-P : Chairman

The Chairman, Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P), Mr Ishaya Akau, on Friday, said its future and fate were with the new administration.

Akau said this while exchanging views with the Director General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mr Mike Omeri, in Abuja.

Akau noted that SURE-P was originally meant to function between 2012 and 2015.

He said the provision made for SURE-P in the 2015 budget was mainly to address some of its ongoing programmes across the country.

“Initially, provision was not made in 2015 budget for SURE-P until after some discussions.

“And perhaps after that, a decision will have to be taken by the new administration for the way forward; that is where we are now’’, Akau said.

He noted that NOA, through its structures at the local level, contributed significantly to ensuring the success of the numerous programmers executed by SURE-P.

“We sought your engagement for the programmes we had on ground. NOA has the structures at the local level to have effectively participated in some of our programmes.

“These were particularly the community services of women and youth employment and empowerment programme”, he said.

Akau said the current focus of SURE-P was to ensure that ongoing projects were supervised and delivered to the extent of the finance made available to SURE-P.

He noted that the proceeds from the partial subsidy removal had contributed to the reduction of the challenges encountered by Nigeria.

“I think our success will be determined by the people of Nigeria, the recipients of what the organisation has done.

“We have done community services; there is the Maternal and Child Health Programme which employed many people. We have provided funds for agencies of government to promote healthcare.

“SURE-P has provided funds for infrastructure development, railways, roads, among many safety net intervention programmes.’’

Akau said the programme did Kano-Maiduguri road, Abuja-Lokoja road among other achievements.

He added that a comprehensive documentation of the achievements of SURE-P has been made available.

Earlier, Omeri said SURE-P programmes had affected the lives of many youths in the country positively.

He noted that in the course of discharging its responsibility across the country, NOA observed that SURE-P programme had created jobs for Nigerians.

Omeri said NOA had noted the disagreement between government and oil marketers over oil subsidy.

He said the agency was engaging other relevant agencies to advise government on the matter.

Omeri also said the agencies would assist in bringing appropriate message to the citizens to consider if subsidy was still the way to go.

He said the engagement was to ensure that citizens do not suffer fuel subsidy. (NAN)