If the process of obtaining the $800 million World Bank loan facility has not been irreversibly concluded by the immediate past regime that initiated it, then President Bola Ahmed Tinubu should drop it. And very quickly too.
And if that is no longer feasible and the loan is as good as being in the kitty, no problem at all. To this end, Tinubu should put it into another use, entirely. And there are millions of areas that it can be used for, that Nigerians would be glad for it.
Just as the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration did not have any genuine reason to take the loan, not a few Nigerians now consider it unnecessary that the new Tinubu’s government proceeds with such a much criticised policy and more worrisome its hasty approval by the National Assembly.
Right thinking Nigerians believe that it was not a well thought out policy to cushion the effect of the removal of fuel subsidy.
When at its twilight the past administration contemplated taking the loan in anticipation of the aftermath of the proposed subsidy removal, Nigerians pooh-poohed the idea of government handing out a paltry sum to some set of people whose mode of selection till now remains shady.
The idea did not gel with Nigerians then – and even now – because nobody understands how a government with no correct data anywhere will determine the poverty level of the quoted 12 million households said to be its beneficiaries. Before you know it, and as usual, members of the National Assembly and other top government functionaries would have cornered all the slots to themselves.
Tinubu said the cash transfer was designed to enable indigent and vulnerable Nigerian people to cope with the cost of meeting basic needs. The President said this would have a multiplier effect on about 60 million individuals. He added that to ascertain the credibility of the process, digital transfers would be made directly to the beneficiaries’ accounts.
“You may also wish to know that the purpose of the facility is to expand coverage of shock-responsive safety net supports for all and vulnerable Nigerians and the cost of meeting basic needs,” he was quoted to have justified the government’s move.
But as expected, the organised labour and some economists have faulted the scheme, planned to favour 12 million vulnerable and poor Nigerians and to last for six months.
How does Tinubu determine those that are poor and deserving the hand out? Does the government even know how many Nigerians are gainfully employed particularly in the face of the fuel subsidy removal? What does a household do with N8,000 per month?
With more than 600 per cent jump in transport fare, food and so on for a typical worker with minimum wage of N30,000, what is N8,000 monthly handout?
As Nigerians, when a litre of petrol hitherto sold at N185 now costs N617, we all know that every other price of goods jumps up to reflect the hike in fuel price. So, how would the government then determine those who should get the so-called N8,000 handout?
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What sense does it even make when a government goes borrowing and then distributes the cash among 12 million households for six months? And this is a loan that must be repaid. And with interest!
The last administration, for lack of any meaningful vision, came up with a lot of funny and ridiculous forms of dashing out cash, some they did in the middle of market places, with equally funny appellations. And, sadly, none was based on data because there was no empirical record of the number of poverty stricken citizens in the markets!
When out of about 133 million Nigerians that were said to be poverty-stricken marginally, then, how justifiable would it be now to single out 12 million households to “digitally” transfer N8,000 monthly for half a year period?
The Executive Director of the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, Auwal Rafsanjani, was spot on when he said the need of Nigerians was not N8,000 monthly, but relief through infrastructure in the transportation, electricity, food production and health care sectors. He added that sharing of money would result to having funds that would not be accounted for. He argued that there were no frameworks on how the indigent individuals would be identified, hence the mechanism for sharing the fund had not been put in place.
“There are no frameworks on how to identify the vulnerable. Also, the mechanism for sharing the money is also not in place,” Rafsanjani faulted.
The N500 billion palliative fund and the additional $800 million, as requested by the President, could go a long way in fixing the three refineries in the country and resuscitate some companies that are moribund.
The Tinubu government should not always be in a hurry to unleash policy statements in grandiose language without subjecting such to critical thinking.
There is nothing meaningful in handing out a paltry N8000 to a household monthly when a litre of fuel is selling N617 and still rising. The handout does not buy 10 litres of fuel!
Such was the student loan law the President signed some weeks back where certain areas incongruent with Nigeria’s realities were highlighted. In the law, which was heralded with so much headline grabbing captions, certain criteria to access the loan by any indigent student were put in place such as level of poverty in their family. Another one is that students must start paying back two years after leaving school. That is in a country where graduates roam the streets for five, six years post-National Youth Service Corps.
Of course, the speed with which the new government wants to put a lot of things in place is understandable. Still, there is no point “manufacturing” policies that are dead on arrival! Which is why the order by the President on Tuesday that the idea behind the N8,000 handout should be reviewed is commendable. But what Tinubu should be looking at now is not a review but putting the money to better and productive use. No handout again please.
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