Ifeanyi Ibe
Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State says the federal government’s proposed cash transfer policy to the poorest of poor households in Nigeria is a scam.
Speaking in an interview with Arise Television’s News Night on Friday, Sani said from his experience as Chairman, of the Committee of Banking for four years in the 9th Senate, the programme is undoubtedly a scam.
The governor said he does not encourage such an idea at all, declaring that “My position has always been that, at this critical time, cash transfer should not be something that we should bring up, completely. I think that cash transfer for me, in my opinion, is a scam. Completely a scam. I can be very certain about that, because who are you transferring the money to? Subsidy Removal: ‘ FG Should Jettison Palliatives, Adopt Sustainable Plan’
“Let me give an example, go and check the current statistics. As I said, as the Chairman of, the Committee of Banking for four years in Nigeria, I oversight Central Bank, I oversight all the commercial sectors of our economy for the last four years and I look at the statistics, I will be very firm on this issue and you can go and check it.
“About 70 to 75 per cent of the rural population in North West are financially excluded completely. You will have to go and check, these people we are talking about are important people in society. They do not even have a bank account so who are you transferring the money to?
“Let’s try and work very hard to make sure that they are financially included, that is the most important thing and I will like to call on our development partners, the World Bank, to put more money towards bringing more people into the financial services and the vulnerable in particular.”
Sani further said, “Let’s put more money to ensure that we open accounts for them, get them involved, if we don’t do that, no matter what we do however you do it, money will go to the wrong people, that’s the fact.”
President Bola Tinubu recently announced that his government will disburse a monthly ₦8,000 to 12 million of the poorest households in the country for six months, in a bid to cushion the effects of the removal of fuel subsidy. Subsidy: Tinubu’s N8,000 Palliative Akin To Treating Symptoms Not The Disease
The president disclosed this in a letter read last Thursday on the floor of the House of Representatives following the $800 million loan request of the previous Muhammadu Buhari administration for a social safety net programme.
The government backtracked a few days ago, declaring that a review will be carried out following the public outcry the announcement elicited among Nigerians.
