Victor EzejaSenior Economist with SPM Professionals, Mr Paul Alaje, faulted the Nigerian government’s proposed palliatives through the Conditional Cash Transfer programme, saying it would throw more Nigerians into poverty.
To cushion the effect of the subsidy removal, the Bola Tinubu-led Federal Government has promised to roll out fund as palliatives to poor Nigerians. The government said it would give N8,000 to each of the 12 million households for six months.
Following the outcry that greeted the proposal, the government said it would review the plan to come up with a better offer.
Alaje, who spoke in an interview with Channels Television on Friday, said palliative measure has been tried in different countries that have similar population and socioeconomic realities with Nigeria but it didn’t work and wondered why the government thinks it is the best option.
According to him, the Federal Government needs to adopt a sustainable measure focusing on infrastructure that would have impact on the people not handing out a paltry sum of N8,000 as palliatives.
He cited the World Bank’s report of June 2023 which affirmed that giving palliative would only succeed in throwing more people into poverty.
“Conditional Cash transfer has not worked in other parts of the world, especially the ones with our kind of population and reality. From India to China, even in Europe, after the second world war. We have seen it practiced in Argentina and it also failed there.”
He said the World Bank’s report revealed that giving out cash as palliatives to people without empowering them would end up pushing about 7.1 million people into poverty between June and December 2023.
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The report equally indicated that about 4 million people joined the poverty line during President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration when a conditional cash transfer of N5,000 was given out to people for a period of time.
At the National Economic Council meeting on Thursday in Abuja, chaired by Vice President, Kashim Shettima, the stakeholders kicked against the national social register that the Federal Government plans to use to disburse the palliatives funds, saying it lacks integrity. They proposed to get a more inclusive one.
Meanwhile, the Anambra State governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, stated at the NEC meeting that states should be involved in the implementation of the palliatives scheme.
Alaje said states can add to whatever the Federal Government is doing but it should be centralized, adding that it would be difficult to have a homogenous implementation if states are directly involved in managing the process.
He said that aside from offering palliatives, the government should work towards ensuring that the refineries are working to commence local production so as to reduce reliance on importation which puts pressure on foreign exchange and causes the high cost of petroleum products.
Speaking on the issue of palliatives, Executive Director of Development Specs Academy, Prof. Okey Ikechukwu, said there is a question of trust as to whether the palliatives would reach the ideal targeted population.
He expressed fear that what happened during the distribution of COVID-19 palliatives where some political elites allegedly high-jacked and hoarded the materials for personal use could repeat itself this time.
On the social register, Prof. Ikechukwu said there is no existing one, and supported the call for a more inclusive register that captures all the citizens within the targeted poverty line to be compiled.
He said that since the idea of giving palliatives is to increase people’s expendable income to meet up with the rising costs of things as a result of the subsidy removal, the offer of N8,000 to the citizens is totally unproductive.
“Coming to the matter of palliative and its application, one is that we are losing time in terms of the effect on the people; two it is still an elite conversation; three, nobody is looking at the multiplier effect,” Ikechukwu stated.
“Something more sophisticated must be thought out and done. There has to be a general conversation on steps that need to be taken for general protection and mutual survival,” he added.
On his part, Ayobami Oyalowo, a Development Economist, supported the submission of Soludo, saying that the challenges of states are varied and should be allowed to come up with suitable strategies for addressing their problems.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with six years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Masters degree in Mass Communication.
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