Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, recently brought to public knowledge, the approval of the sum of N4 billion, by the federal government, for cash transfer to Nigerian households.
The cash package is part of humanitarian assistance, aimed at lifting citizens in need, particularly the displaced, in the troubled North East region of the country.
The humanitarian assistance programme will reportedly run between February and April 2025, hopefully brining succour to a number of households and individuals in the targeted zone.
It is difficult to pick quarrels with an act of kindness. Extending a helping hand to persons in need, is, ordinarily, a noble gesture, whether expressed by an individual,or by the state.
Considering that direct cash transfer has become an acceptable means of extending immediate relief to persons in troubled economic situations, recognized by relevant agencies of the United Nations, among others, the N4 billion in reference, should go in peace.
Think of it also, much more than N4billion frequently goes down the drain in Nigeria, in causes and circumstances that are neither humanitarian, nor noble. So, if N4 billion or part of it, will help to sustain life in some citizens in need, why not?
Yet, programmes of cash transfer by governments in Nigeria, in recent times, elicit some discomfort.
Under the government of Muhammadu Buhari, cash transfer to some identified demographics, gained prominence and equally gained notoriety, in tow. The reasons had a lot to do with the character and tendencies of that regime. For a government that was not only impulsive and parochial, but also resisted being answerable to the public, in various instances, transparency was bound to be an issue.
The humongous sums of money which were mentioned by the leadership of the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, at various junctures during that era, as what was expended by government, on cash transfer programmes, appeared worrisomely astronomical.
It was the same with the equally fantastic amounts said to have been spent in feeding school children during COVID 19 lockdown. Those expenditure- claims were simply implausible
This, as reminder, was the period N500million was purportedly spent to feed school children in two states during COVID 19 lockdown. At the same period N100billion was purportedly expended on unemployed youths and small businesses. It may be safe to guess that all that money, the said unemployed youths and the said small businesses, are by now unstuck. It was all fuzzy statistics, in the first place.
The list relied upon by the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs to purportedly disburse cash to needy citizens, during the Buhari administration, was, as can be imagined, whimsically compiled. It was not difficult to see that the guiding data used by those who shared the money, reflected whatever they wanted to do. With no reliable census that accurately gave poverty statistics across the country, it always came down to where the sentiment of the leadership of the relevant ministry and by extension, the government, led them.
As it was under Buhari, so it is under Bola Tinubu.Perhaps, worse. Sadly. One of the major issues that dogged the short tenure of Betta Edu, as Tinubu’s first minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, had to do with a contentious contract for compiling the social register on which the Ministry was to base its critical intervention work.
As it turned out, not only was the contract for the work dubious, the register that emanated from the compilation,was a sham. Instructively, a serving minister who was virtually awarded that contentious contract, was not held accountable for anything. Imperial presidents such as the All Progressives Congress (APC) has so far installed, in form of Buhari and Tinubu, decide,arbitrarily, what is corruption and who should be hounded for it and who should not. They are the state, anyway.
When therefore Professor Yilwatda, came forth with the amount of N4billion, approved by the government for cash transfer to vulnerable citizens, many questions instantly jumped to the fore. For a country that resists learning from the past, often for self-serving reasons, the common belief in many is that the latest cash transfer scheme will be another one of those funny programmes. Or has anything changed in the operational tools and data available at the Ministry since its pioneer minister, Sadiya Farouk held sway and disbursed billions of Naira,just like that? Also,is there any new, robust social register available in the ministry, different from that which was concocted for Betta Edu, as Minister? Prof. Yilwatda has no problem yet, it must be noted.
Throwing money at problems has always been a past time of governments in Nigeria. It obviously helps to create a public impression that they are doing something.Of course,there are other attractions in sharing cash.
Transferring cash to vulnerable citizens, whether in the North East, or in any other chosen part of the country, aligns quite well with the expressed programmes of the APC government, it must be noted. According to the Tinubu-led APC government, its goal is to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty. Very impressive ambition. There is a little problem, though.
There seems to be a clash between the ambition of lifting people out of poverty and the direct impact of the economic and social policies of the government. There is something manifestly incongruent, if not mischievous, in the government aspiring to lift 100 million citizens out of poverty, at the same time that the same government,through its policies,is pushing 200 million into crushing poverty. Only individuals within APC can reconcile the contradiction.
Now,a new telecommunications services tariff has been approved by the government. The new 50 per cent increase in calls, data and every other telecommunication service, further squashes ordinary Nigerians, worsening their burden of existence. Look at it this way; Nigerians cannot travel by air, as a result of unaffordable air fare. They cannot travel by road, due to exorbitant transport fair, occasioned by increase in the cost of petrol and diesel. They cannot stay comfortably at home, or engage in small scale businesses, because of astronomical electricity tariff. The cost of food items has made two square meals, if not one, a challenge for majority of citizens. All that has been left for Nigerians used to be making calls and sending SMS.The later enables many to quickly send bank detail, to were ever help offers itself, to survive for the day. Now, that door is being closed. To make calls and send text messages have come under threat by government’s newly hiked tariff.
With more Nigerians being pushed, by the day, into the poverty bracket, the government should brace up for more cash transfers to vulnerable citizens. As it is turning out, the population of the vulnerables, is fast overtaking those who are standing. The reality of life remains, though, that nobody has ever being lifted out of poverty by palliative. “Dashed money”, as it is said, in Nigerian parlance, is for just one day. Policies that enhance productivity, with bright prospects for viable economic engagements, hold out a better future, for enduring prosperity, than cash transfers, even if the purpose was altruistic, in the first place.
In truth, in spite of the arguable case for immediate interventionist programme for sundry vulnerable citizens,including those in the line of terrorist devastation, cash transfers in Nigeria, have the uncomfortable tendency to resemble security votes in the hands of state governors. It often appears, more, or less, like a ruse.
