The World Bank has advised the Federal Government to ensure that when it finally receives the $800 million loan expected to be expended on cushioning the impact of the fuel subsidy removal on Nigerians, it should ensure that the fund gets to the intended beneficiaries.
The Country Director of the World Bank, Shubham Chaudhuri, who gave the advice last week also clarified that the $800 million loan was yet to be available for disbursement as it was awaiting the approval of the National Assembly.
He further added that with the poverty bracket of Nigerians expected to rise further, the urgency of targeted cash transfers for the vulnerable was vital, just as he suggested an increase in the number of beneficiaries.
President Bola Tinubu has moved at lightning speed in his first month in office, implementing a raft of radical changes aimed at finally unleashing the full potential of Africa’s sluggish economic giant.
Whereas, we applaud the President for some bold steps he has taken within one month of assuming office, as his actions were restoring people’s confidence in the government and have the potential for a broader economic transformation, the way some of the policies are being implemented are making many to gasp for breath.
Although the various steps taken lately by the Tinubu-led administration may have the potential of lifting Nigeria up in the medium and long term but, there is the need to ensure that the people are not squeezed out of breath before that good time comes, as it is only a person who is wholesomely alive that would enjoy the largesse of tomorrow.
Like many of the dramatic and bold steps, there would be some short-term pain and it is natural that leaders and the country are hesitant to inflict that pain and not quite sure how to deal with it.
The government should do its best to make sure that the pain is mitigated for as many people as it can.
As we agree that the removal of petrol subsidy needed to happen, what we are saying is, help cushion some of the pains for a large part of the population as 60 to 70 percent are those who would be considered either poor, near poor or economically insecure and vulnerable.
This is the group that’s going to be hit hardest and the government can do something to help cushion the pain, not alleviate it completely, but cushion the pain by providing targeted cash transfers to a large group of the population.
We also call on the Federal Government to prevail on some of its institutions planning to jack up prices of commodities and services, as such would further worsen the precarious situations of hapless Nigerians.
We fault the planned increase in tariff by the power Distribution Companies because the naira exchange rate depreciated from N441 to a dollar to about N750 per dollar.
Some electricity Discos had on June 25, 2023, announced that from July 1, this year, the tariffs being paid by electricity consumers in Nigeria would go up by 40 per cent.
“President Tinubu should checkmate some steps capable of alienating his administration from the people, and be mindful of actions by government agencies that may be tantamount to sabotaging his good intentions”
We wonder why service being rendered in Nigeria should be denominated in or predicated on US dollar
Is the energy they are distributing imported from the United States of America?
President Tinubu should checkmate some steps capable of alienating his administration from the people, and be mindful of actions by government agencies that may be tantamount to sabotaging his good intentions.
We call on the President to stop the planned increase on electricity tariff and ensure that the increase was not effected secretly as had been done before.
Similarly, the Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Transportation, Abdulhafiz Toriola, had on June 27, disclosed that the Joint Tax Board has imposed a levy of N1, 000 per annum on every vehicle owner in Nigeria. The payment was said to be in the form of Proof of Ownership Certificate.
This was without regard to various taxes vehicle owners pay yearly viz Vehicle Licence, Insurance, road worthiness and hackney permit for commercial vehicles.
In many states across the country, some road users, other than pedestrians, have daily payments to make to be allowed to ply the roads.
To further squeeze the miserable citizens, the Central Bank of Nigeria has made it obligatory for commercial banks to collect and verify their customers’ social media handles as part of their Know Your Customer process.
This directive amounts to making members of the public pay for the failure and negligence of relevant organs of the government in carrying out their constitutionally assigned duties.
Already, every telephone user in the country got captured as directed by the National Communications Commission with the National Identity Number incorporated.
Besides, every bank customer now has what is known as a Bank Verification Number. Email addresses were also registered with the banks into which information from banks are sent to the respective customers.
This implies that the information this new directive from the CBN is seeking is already within the purview of government agencies.
The government should stop the planned N1, 000 POC levy and prevail on relevant arms of government to utilise information about Nigerians already in their purview as the new CBN directive is repetitive of what already exists in addition to its potential of being used to infringe on the privacy of Nigerians.
In making it compulsory for every telephone user to be captured by telecommunications network, the NCC said that it was to make it possible for security agencies to be able to track kidnappers who use telephone to contact families of those they kidnap. This has been on for more than four years. Yet, kidnapping still continues.
This means that the security failure in the country is not due to lack of information about the kidnappers and other terrorists.
Rather, it was due to the failure of those who are in charge of security. Various reasons could be adduced for this including perhaps sabotage and lackadaisical attitude of the government.
