President Buhari’s N5, 000 for the poor

As part of the President Muhammadu Buhari determined efforts to positively touch the lives of poor Nigerians, his administration two weeks started the payment of N5, 000 monthly stipends to the poorest and the most vulnerable in the country through the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) of its Social Investment Programmes (SIP).

The programme, implemented through a Conditional Cash Transfer system, is a fulfillment of one of the campaign promises of the ruling APC administration. This programme may no doubts tows the line of the US Social Security Programme.

When President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law 80 years ago this month, he said that while “We can never insure one hundred percent of the population against one hundred percent of the hazards and vicissitudes of life … we have tried to frame a law which will give some measure of protection to the average citizen and to his family against the loss of a job and against poverty-ridden old age.”

In the decades since then, Social Security has developed into one of the most popular federal programmes, though that popularity is tempered by concern over its long-term financial outlook.

The major take-away here is that the country provides security “against the loss of a job” and “against poverty-ridden old age” with the aim of safeguarding their opportunities.

Social Investment Programmes which has commenced has nine States in its first batch– Borno, Kwara, Bauchi States, Cross Rivers, Niger, Kogi, Oyo, Ogun & Ekiti States.

The thrust here is not to make case for the Social Investment Programmes to reach all geopolitical zones in Nigeria but what the long-term impact of the programme is on the economy.

An old Chinese proverb says “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime”.

The supposed jewel of wisdom in the above proverb is that by teaching a man the skills necessary to work, a nation has succeeded in ensuring the citizen’s ability to achieve long-term success, function independently, and provide for himself.

Despite Nigeria’s abundant agricultural resources and oil wealth, poverty is widespread in the country and has increased since the late 1990s. Some 70 percent of Nigerians live on less than $1 a day.

The selection process for beneficiaries of Social Investment Programmes is said to be based on data collected for the World Bank-supported Youth Employment and Social Support Operation (YESSO), where each community identified those considered as poor.

“All the funds approved for the Federal Government’s Social Investment Programmes (SIP) are domiciled with the Ministry of Budget and National Planning. In addition, the payment information and processes for all beneficiaries of the Federal Government’s SIP are hosted at NIBSS, as the Consolidated Beneficiary Register, to ensure and fortify efforts at authentication and verification, as well as for effective and efficient programme management,” Laolu Akande, senior special assistant media to the Vice President had said in a statement on SIP take-off.

Under the CCT, one million Nigerians would receive N5, 000 monthly payments as a form of social safety net for the poorest and most vulnerable as budgeted for in the 2016 Budget. It implies that Nigeria will be spending N5billion monthly and N60billion annually on this programme.

The Federal Government with expenditure profile of roughly N800 billion to N900 billion every month has by this Social Investment Programmes added to existing financial obligations even as it borrows to augment revenue sources.

Absorbing such huge cash-backed programme at the current time of recession remains a source of worry to some Nigerians who believe the Federal Government should rather concentrate on long-term projects and policies that would promote investments and create jobs for teaming unemployed Nigerians across in the country.

Unemployment and underemployment have determining influence on the poverty level in today’s Nigeria. The inadequate employment situation of youth has a number of socio-economic, political and moral consequences; even as it has resulted in rising poverty in Nigeria which is now chronic.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said the country’s unemployment rate rose from 13.3 percent in the second quarter (Q2) of 2016 to 13.9 percent in the third-quarter (Q3) of 2016.

The APC led government would need to prove to Nigerians and other schools of thought that its Social Investment Programmes will not encourage looters, who have always been pretending to be patriotic Nigerians in the ongoing administration, to have access to another slush fund.

Already, in some pilot States, it is alleged that top politicians have started hijacking the monthly stipend meant for the identified poor.

Nigeria needs the enabling environment for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to thrive, which will have a positive effect on the country economically. Federal Government needs to fix the economy; ensure steady supply of power for businesses Small, Medium and Large to thrive, ensure Nigeria roads are motorable; and initiate sound policies that will boost investments across all key sectors.