Federal Government’s payment to the poorest Nigerians deserves a second look
The plan by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to introduce a form of social security targeted at the most vulnerable in the society generated controversy even during the electioneering campaign. The party explained that payment of N5,000 monthly to those identified to be within the net would rescue them from crushing poverty. The conditional cash transfer (CCT) commenced in the New Year in Borno, Kwara, Bauchi, Oyo, Ogun, Ekiti, Cross River, Niger and Kogi states.
However, political opponents, some economists and social critics have wondered aloud what the amount, less than N200 daily, is worth in today’s economy.
We accept that the rationale behind the move is sound enough and the Federal Government is to be commended for starting a form of payment to the poorest in the country. Anyone who has been to the rural areas and slums of the towns and cities would wonder how the inhabitants are coping with life. Some Nigerians go to bed without one meal a day. It is also commendable that the payment is only part of the Federal Government’s social investment programme.
The youth have the N-Power scheme to get the unemployed engaged, while there is also an on-going recruitment of 500,000 teachers to be trained and posted to the states; the recruitment of 10,000 policemen and the school meal programme that would ensure that primary school children have at least a balanced meal daily at government’s expense.
Despite the objections, we consider these laudable objectives.
We are however concerned if enough work was done before the announcement of the scheme’s take-off. The social security fund being coordinated by the vice president is said to have taken off in nine states, while work on compilation of data is still on in other states. Many Nigerians who believe they ought to have been covered by the scheme have cried out that the criteria applied are unknown. A policy like this ought to be made very transparent. How many have been recruited, what is the breakdown per state, how could those qualified check if they were successful and others enroll? We are concerned that the method adopted leaves room for corruption of the process. Our fear is that if care is not taken, it could become another cesspit like the Poverty Alleviation Programme (PAP) of the immediate past administration.
While the scheme has taken off and should not be halted at this stage, the government should consider more sustainable programmes that would gradually move Nigerians away from poverty. It is worrisome that the scheme is coming up at a time state governments and some federal agencies are finding it difficult to pay salaries. Pensioners have accused the Federal Government of neglect; in many states, the state component of pensions is more regularly paid than the federal. These have weakened many of the senior citizens who spent most of their active years serving the country. They have been made involuntarily vulnerable by actions of the same government that is pledging to rescue them.
Although it has been argued that government’s injection of fund is needed to lift the economy out of the woods, the Nigerian structure could, in the long-run, make the scheme unsustainable. There are not many people who are permanently vulnerable. In other countries, those on social security are closely monitored and assisted through policies to exit, and as soon as they do, they are delisted from the scheme. Is the Nigerian government in a position to do this? Are measures being adopted to achieve this? Are there other schemes in the pipeline into which CCT could be accommodated in due course?
It is worthwhile to know how long the scheme is expected to last. If the states are not cooperating, Nigerians deserve to be informed, and, if money is the consideration, it should be communicated to citizens. Many public policies fail at the conception stage because popular support is not enlisted. This should not be the case with this programme. In addition, government should introduce schemes for geriatric care in public hospitals. Since the APC controls 25 of the 36 states of the federation and more than three-quarters of the local government councils, it should be easy to get the other tiers of government to buy into government’s programmes.
The local government areas and non-governmental organisations have been neglected for too long. This is one scheme that could benefit from deploying them for enumeration and administration under close supervision. We are in support of any scheme that would reduce inequity in the country, but government should design more long-term policies that would ensure the greatest good for the greatest number.
President Muhammadu Buhari will do well to reassess his economic team, carve out a vision and regularly touch base with Nigerians with a view to climbing out of the cave. He should remember that whatever he makes of his policies would decide how the pendulum swings in 2019 and beyond.
