The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Nentawe Yilwatda, has said more than 10 million vulnerable Nigerians who benefited from the N75,000 conditional cash transfer programme do not have access to mobile phones, are not on social media and do not own television sets.
He disclosed this on Saturday while addressing newsmen after a three-day retreat of the APC National Executive Council in Maiduguri, Borno State.
He said the beneficiaries, whom he described as poor and vulnerable Nigerians, were largely unable to participate in public debates about government policies because they lacked access to communication devices and platforms.
“We have given ₦75,000 to over 10 million Nigerians across the country using the conditional cash transfer under the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction.
“Mind you, these people who are poor and vulnerable don’t have telephones to make calls; they are not on social media. They don’t have a television. They cannot come and challenge and discuss as we are doing here, but they are out there,” he said.
The APC chairman also criticised former Vice President and African Democratic Congress presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, over his position on fuel subsidy.
Yilwatda said the removal of subsidy had freed resources for infrastructure development and other government programmes across the country.
“We are constructing roads and paying people that are working on the road site, and construction is going across the country,” he said.
He said the subsidy removal had also improved the ability of state governments to pay salaries and pensions.
“Over 30 states could not pay salaries and pensions. After we removed subsidies, all states can pay salaries and pensions, and no state is left behind.
“Today, if you return it, you are saying states shouldn’t pay salaries again. And what suffering are you bringing to Nigeria?”
Yilwatda said restoring the subsidy would also affect the government’s student loan scheme and other ongoing projects.
“The projects we’re doing across the country, like the coastal road and gas project to the north, which have passed Abuja, which are aimed at easing the suffering of Nigerians, will be suspended,” he said.
He accused Atiku of seeking to reverse what he described as the gains of the Tinubu administration in pursuit of the presidency, saying the APC and Nigerians would not accept such a move.
On the outcome of the NEC retreat, Yilwatda said the party reviewed its activities at the national, state, local government, ward and polling-unit levels.
He said the APC remained strong and prepared for the 2027 general elections.
Yilwatda added that the NEC passed a vote of confidence in President Bola Tinubu, Vice President Kashim Shettima and other APC candidates who emerged from the party’s primaries for the 2027 elections.
