Bola Ahmed Tinubu Following the removal of oil subsidies by the Federal Government of Nigeria, there has been immense economic hardship for the resident of the country. The removal of the oil Subsidy was a necessity that could be understood by almost every citizen who love the country as it put an end to a regime of freelance corruption which might have been costing the country billions of naira, every day.
However, the economic hardship invited by the oil subsidy removal was purely a short time one, but that is it it is effectively managed. To curb the short time economic hardship that oil subsidy removal had brought on the citizens, the Federal Government of Nigeria had taken several steps to cushion the effects, one of which is the recent decision taken the Federal Government of Nigeria to give N5 billion palliatives to each state government to allocate among its people to cushion the effects of the oil subsidy removal until the economic regains strength, and every citizen is capable of standing their feet against the economic reality with regards to financial capability.
While many have been rejoicing over the decision reached by the Federal Government to share N5 billion per state to provide palliative materials for their residents, there is a fault in the decision, and channelization of the palliatives, if we are to care.
The first observation that will hinder the implementation of the loan is the fact that it would be given to the States government, and implementation has no specific template either from the Federal Government of Nigeria or the state government.
What I mean here is that the Federal Government of Nigeria will only give the N5 billion to each state as a loan, without any trackage objectives attached to it, either drawn by the state or the Federal Government, which must be accomplished by the state after the money is received.
For instance, if Oyo State submits a template to deliver a refinery to provide job opportunities, as part of the implementation of the N5 billion palliatives, it is trackable, and failure to get it delivered within a given timeframe means something must have gone wrong somewhere, and that is accountability.
The neighboring Osun State may decide to build a Free Trader Zone and turn the state into another industrial hub for West Africa, mainly for agricultural produce. These are trackable objectives.
Either the Federal Government of Nigeria draw these or the state government is required to come up with these before they can have access to the palliative fund. And most importantly, the sitting Governor should sign a personal deal to be responsible for the delivery of the project using their INDIVIDUAL identity
Without this, I will be happy to tell President Bola Ahmed Tinubu that he has just dashed out N185 billion to 37 people, while over 200 million Nigerians wallow in abject Poverty. It is a sorrow case but we have to keep ourselves happy because of the probability of a brighter future.
Recall that the same state governors have managed billions of naira in hundreds both as States allocation, loans, and grants in the past with no specific projects traceable to the exhausted fund.
Secondly, if the state government is to go by the defunct meaning of palliatives in Nigeria, that is sharing of free money to ease hardship among the citizens, then we can collectively fault the equality in the amount of N5 billion per state.
What I mean here is that, if N5 billion will be shared among almost 20 million residents of Lagos or Kano state, and the same amount of N5 billion will be shared among less than 3 million residents of Bayelsa or Nasarawa State; it means the program had deviated from the ethics of equity as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and embrace equality which is a mere mathematical term which is used to check if equity is embrace or not.
The Federal Government of Nigeria should count this platform as one of those in support of a better Nigeria, and the love for the country will always encourage us to speak up whenever it is necessary.
Primarily, the Federal Government of Nigeria should mandate every state government to set a goal state that must be met in not more than 12 months, on which the money will be spent, and the goal state must target anything that will bring growth to the export rate and reduce importation 9f what we consumed in Nigeria.
Category: Forum
Tag: N5billion
Written by Omooba Alekuwodo (omoobaalekuwodo)
Published 8/18/2023 11:15:17 AM