The needless altercation between the presidency and Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose over the N5,000.00 Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) paid by the federal government to the poor under the Social Investment Program (SIP) could have been avoided if Nigeria as a country had a functional social security system or safety net for the unemployed, elderly and other vulnerable members of the society; the absence of which has made life unbearable for the citizenry. Faulting remarks by Fayose who dismissed reports that the government had started paying the N5,000.00 to poor Nigerians as “mere propaganda” the presidency urged Nigerians to be wary of detractors, insisting funds for the commencement of the payments in Borno, Kwara and Bauchi states have already been released to the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), the platform that hosts and validates payments for all government’s social intervention programs. “The other states in the first batch to commence the CCT payments are Cross River, Niger, Kogi, Oyo, Ogun and Ekiti States,” the presidency explained.
Governor Fayose, in a statement in Ado-Ekiti by his Chief Press Secretary, Idowu Adelusi, had said there was no evidence of the payment in his state, which is one of the states the federal government claimed the exercise had started. Fayose challenged the government to publish the names and account numbers of the people receiving the payments in Ekiti, saying the states the government claims have started receiving the payment are APC-controlled states; a veiled suggestion the government was lying, since none of the APC governors would come out openly to contradict the government; even as Kwara State confirmed the receipt of the stipend by some residents. Kwara Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajia Ayinke Saka, told the News Agency of Nigeria in Ilorin that the over 10,000 Kwara beneficiaries were spread across the 16 local councils of the state. Also, the Bauchi government said no fewer than 10,800 poor people in the state’s 360 communities will benefit from the program.
Though the sequence for the payment would be operationally managed by NIBSS, the effective implementation of the scheme requires rigorous planning and painstaking execution, which seems lacking in Bauchi where the Special Adviser on Development Partners to Governor Mohammed Abubakar Mansur Soro, disclosed that disbursement would commence before the end of January after the field team completes the biometric capturing of the beneficiaries. This sounds like putting the cart before the horse and making the project vulnerable to shenanigans of corruption. The expectation is that the biometrics ought to have been captured at the application phase before the final list of beneficiaries was established.
There is no doubt that providing social safety net for the citizenry is imperative, particularly, considering the worsening poverty level in the country. Beyond the CCT, however, a holistic, rather than segmental approach would be better for the country. It is common knowledge that unemployment is already at an explosive level. How to handle it remains a big challenge. Incidentally, this issue of social security had been suggested in May 2009, by the then Minister of Labor and Productivity, Adetokunbo Kayode, who announced plans by the federal government to establish an integrated social security scheme designed to provide succor for unemployed and other vulnerable groups in the society. Government then set up a National Working Committee on Social Security Policy, headed by former Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon. The committee among other things; was to draft a holistic social security policy framework and recommend robust and sustainable financing options for an integrated system. Thereafter, nothing was heard of the committee and its work.
Not long after that, the government, once again, set up an inter-ministerial committee to develop a social security action plan specifically for senior citizens. Pertinent questions were raised as to why the Gowon committee report was discarded and a new committee set up to address the same issue from another angle. Questions were raised as to whether the new committee was complementing the previous one or totally on its own. It is regrettable that till date, nothing came out of both committees and this is why it is pertinent to ask if the present CCT is based on an awareness of what had been presented to government before or the APC government is merely trying to fulfill a campaign promise.
It is, of course, sad that despite the huge oil wealth, Nigeria has no social security scheme. Considering the mass unemployment in the country, the Human Rights and Legal Reform Committee of the 2014 National Conference, recommended that unemployed graduates be paid a monthly stipend equivalent to the allowance of members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). The committee reportedly made the recommendation with the aim of bringing succor to the unemployed; reduce crime and compel the government to be alive to its responsibility of providing welfare for its citizens. Paying the poor and unemployed monthly stipends could provide succor but that throws up daunting challenges, which could frustrate the initiative, the biggest one being data-base of would be beneficiaries.
For example, does the Federal Ministry of Youth Development or any government agency have the data? There is no data-base of poor Nigerians and their employment status. Even, the National Youth Service Corps is known to have difficulty keeping a reliable database of graduates passing through it. Some corps members, who have completed their service year, manage to remain in the scheme to continue receiving the allowance as a survival strategy. Besides, what the ultimate goal of the scheme is. A situation where some poor, unemployed Nigerians see the stipend as an incentive not to seek gainful employment breeds indolence and presents a major challenge. Over and above all, will the beneficiaries receive the allowance for as long as they live?
Needless to say that there must be a productive engagement process to add value to the whole idea. One way of doing that is to engage the beneficiaries in community service, which may include road works, tree planting and infrastructure rehabilitation. The beneficiaries would, therefore, be engaged in one way or the other and they would imbibe a certain work ethic on spirit and money, however little, is not paid for doing nothing. The scheme should also include all school leavers even if they would not be on the same pay. If well implemented, the CCT should go a long way to alleviate poverty.
