COVID palliative: Will N20,000 do? (2)

By Igboeli Arinze

I pivot back to my initial argument about whether 20,000 will be enough to help the “ vulnerable” in our society,that is as a palliative in this very excruciating period.

At a point where lockdowns are being implemented there is a tendency that food and other essentials are bound to sky rocket away from the reach of the same vulnerable man; it is simple economics, such a situation will naturally affect the economic way of life of the country, the outcome of the disease will have  severe consequences on households’ livelihoods and business activities, resulting in a drop in demand, declining consumer confidence and a massive slowdown in production. This is naturally the essence of social investments programs- to cushion the burdensome effects that may arise in situations such as this.

To put it this way, if we measure the purchasing power of these vulnerable people, we will not need analysts to tell us that N20,000 is enough to cater for their needs. If one were to take into consideration the amount of money an average household  spends on goods and services and then measure such against the estimated level of minimum income needed to secure the neccesities of life then we are all agreed that it is not enough.

Rather, I would have expected that the government puts up a human face, increasing the amount to say N10,000 monthly, which would then bring the amount to 40,000 per each person for the same period of time. Arguments may arise from a pro government end, basing them on a popular branch of where will the money come from?  But that will be easy to answer,   as those who benefit from such are fewer than  one percent of the poor people that this country has, also the program has been funded from the proceeds of the Abacha loot.

Again, the decision to pay them upfront for two months leaves a  bad taste in the mouth,  given that they had not been paid in the past two months. So what then happens when the pandemic ends? History, has always shown that enormous hardship occurs during and in the aftermath of such a crisis, be it a war, recession or global pandemic as we have now. So if the Buhari administration offers succour now, what plans does it have when the pandemic’s curtains fall?

I will therefore urge the government to immediately view such opinions from the last week and this present week  and other salient points not raised here but elsewhere and put in place better palliative measures, not just for the poorest of the poor but for millions of Nigerians who will be hit by the impact of Covid 19.

And Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouk Came To Uli, Ihiala.

I did witness the visit of the Honourable Minister for Humanitarian Affairs,Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouk who in the course of duty visited Uli in Anambra State to witness the presentation of the N20,000 conditional cash transfer to the vulnerable in Uli Ihiala local government area in Anambra State.

Hajiya Farouk who I was told had earlier visited Ikeduru in Imo State was accompanied by her counterpart the Minister of State for Education, Emeka Nwajiuba, Chief Paul Chukwuma, the National Auditor of the All Progressives Congress,APC and Chief Basil Ejidike.

Her visit, I beleive may have been against the backdrop of a lot of fake news spawn by merchants of mendacity depicting Hajiya as stating that the monies meant for CCT would be shared to the rest of the country excepting the SouthEast. The intentions were obvious, to pit the people of the SouthEast against a government that has in all fairness done so much of them and is still doing.

Such stories naturally ought to be discounted from any reasonable person’s point of view, but given the poor state of our education as a nation, ethnic divisions, crass partisanship and poor media literacy, such weavers of these tales by the moonlight not surprisingly receive audience from countless numbers of Nigerians.

I was largely impressed with Hajiya’s demeanour and her assertions as she chatted with media personalities at the conclusion of the program. Hajiya Farouk possesed  the requisite  command of figures and other indices expected not only  to make such a process work , but to also ensure that an evaluation of it’s impact is measured. She also did seem at home with the beneficiaries as the expected hauteur a trademark of the average Nigerian VIP was largely absent.

Again, I am much impressed!