- Nigerians deserve the respite promised by the budget, but government must work out the details carefully so that the purpose is not defeated
The general outline of this year’s federal budget shows that the Buhari administration recognises that the welfare of citizens is the primary purpose of governance. This accords with the directive in section 14 of the 1999 Constitution. Nigerians have groaned for too long under the yoke of governments that tended to enrich a few at the expense of many.
The prospects have even become more frightening as the price of crude oil, on which the economy is dependent, has continued a free fall in the past year. Consequently, too, the pressure on the Naira has a deleterious effect on the national currency, thus tilting up the cost of goods and services across the land. While the people are told to tighten their belts, the rulers feed fat on the common purse, drill holes in the treasury and siphon funds out of the country to acquire property in Europe and the United States of America.
As a result, public education has collapsed, healthcare is no longer affordable by the majority and food is beyond the reach of many. It is therefore heart-warming that the government intends, this year, to alter the deformed structure of the economy by paying attention to the plight of the dispossessed. In schools, it plans to introduce free meals in recognition of the inability of parents to provide nutritious meals for their children and wards. Many pupils who are otherwise brilliant are unable to cope with learning because they come to school on empty stomach. Strange ailments have begun to assail the young because they are introduced at very tender ages to cruel feeding formulae that fall short of the traditional three square meals a day.
The Buhari government deserves commendation for realising this and redirecting attention to correcting the anomaly.
Economists and non-economists alike have called attention to the time- bomb in the growing army of the unemployed. State policies have turned agile, dynamic and promising young graduates into destitute. There is anger in the land and as the clock ticks, the danger of explosion of the state structure becomes more real. The plan to pay a token of five thousand Naira to the unemployed is therefore a step in the right direction. In addition to stemming anger and hunger, it would help reflate the economy.
In accordance with the manifesto of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), the government has announced plans to employ 500,000 teachers all over the country as a palliative to the raging unemployment fire. It would also help raise the standard in public schools nationwide.
While waiting for a breakdown of the budget, we laud the underlining principles as they tend to give effect to the Principles and Fundamental Directives of State Policy. The spirit of the constitution tends to emphasise that Nigeria is expected to be run as a welfare state, but this has been implemented in the breach over the years. Under the guise that the fund is unavailable, the people have been denied the basic necessities of life, while the few who find their way into government or the corridors of power turn themselves into parasites and leaches. The ongoing arms deal probe has exposed how the common patrimony is shared among the elite. It has shown that, if prudently managed, Nigeria has enough to cater for the citizens.
However, we call on the government to carefully work out the details as ill-digested policies could hurt the oppressed and repressed and thwart the good intentions of the government.
