Still on the Charade of Distributing Palliatives By Yaseera Mohammed Wando
POLITICS DIGEST – It is just the sacred fact. The removal of fuel subsidy in Nigeria by the federal government has badly hit millions of ordinary citizens who struggle day and night to eke out livelihood.
The unfortunate development also triggered fiscal inflation, with the prices of many goods and services soaring high, beyond the reach and affordability of teeming Nigerians.
These are not the best of times for the masses, whose living conditions have been appalling, prior to the advent of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s presidency.
Though FG, in ending the subsidy regime, assured that better days await citizens, but it doesn’t seem so, at the moment. Many Nigerians are finding it difficult to make ends meet. On one hand however, the subsidy removal has curbed the diversion and smuggling of crude oil outside the nation’s borders.
In response to the socio-economic chaos elicited after FG’s removal of subsidy, President Tinubu unveiled his government’s palliatives for the masses, to ameliorate their suffering.
The 36 States of the federation, together with the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, each received N5 billion, together with 1,000 trucks of rice. The cash given to the States was meant to help them procure more food items for distribution to Nigerians in their domains.
Agreed, FG’s efforts to cushion the hardship of Nigerians in this gruelling period should be commended. But the palliative programmes are not sustainable, in the long run. They would not address the nation’s food and unemployment crisis, even by a stretch.
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In some communities in Minna, the capital city of Niger State, the sharing formula adopted for distributing the palliatives will shock one to the marrow. There are instances where a community of over a thousand residents got five to 10 mudus of rice, and five leathers of spaghetti, together with a few cups of beans.
Pray, how the over 1,000 community members will equally and adequately share the food items. But the communities who got pittance should even be grateful. Several others were not so lucky to even get a cup of rice, beans or even a leather of spaghetti.
It is imperative to state that corrupt government officials are always the stumbling block to the judicious implementation of social welfare programmes, designed by the government for the needy and less privileged in the society. And this time around, they also didn’t disappoint in baring their fangs.
Reports abound of how some food items to be shared to citizens not only in Niger State, but across the country, were diverted by fraudulent officials saddled with the responsibility of disbursing them to target beneficiaries.
These rascality and acts of inhumanity of man towards his fellow beings must stop forthwith. Persons who enrich themselves with what is meant for the society should be made to face the music. The failure to prosecute or sanction them is what is fueling impunity.
Also, the onus lies on the government to ensure that the strategy of disbursing foodstuffs, cash and other palliative items at any time is transparent and not shrouded in secrecy. The government should also accord priority attention to empowering jobless youths and other unemployed Nigerians.
That is the most sustainable means of alleviating poverty and hunger, together with the unemployment crisis in the country. The charades of palliatives’ disbursement in times of socio-economic turmoil have never addressed the masses’ problems. They have to be stopped.
Yaseera Mohammed Wando is a Public Administration graduate from the Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai (IBBUL), in Niger State.
