On a daily basis, headlines of Nigerian newspapers on federal government’s humanitarian grants stand side by side with those on insecurity. But scarcely do these headlines receive the same prominence as the negative ones.Yet, just as the herders-farmers crisis, cattle rustling and kidnappings could entail life and death scenarios, so also could poverty, the absence of financial inclusion or lack of social safety nets, portend disastrous consequences for individuals and families.
Paraphrasing the adage ‘he who wears the shoe knows where it pinches’, the late reggae maestro, the legendary Bob Marley, told us that ‘who feels it, knows it’. Thus, whether or not the media headline the life-changing social investment programmes across Nigeria’s 774 local government areas, it does not erase the joy of thousands of the vulnerable and poor who, hitherto, had been abandoned.
These are the beneficiaries of the various empowerment interventions, under the federal government’s National Social Investment Programme (NSIP) domiciled with the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development. There are four categories, namely, Conditional Cash Transfer Programme (CCT), National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme, Enterprise Empowerment Programme and the N-Power .
Each time the minister, Sadiya Farouq, comes on the scene, whether electronically, personally or by proxy, to effect the CCT, she beams a reassuring ray of light, into a dark tunnel of social exclusion, rekindling hope that, despite the country’s problems, ours is still a caring and feeling society. By December 2020, the programme was fully operational in 33 states and the Federal Capital Territory while 1, 414, 983 beneficiaries had been enrolled: with 7, 068, 629 individual household member beneficiaries from 487 local government areas, 4716 wards and 37, 628 communities.
The conditional cash transfer segment of the NSIP is important in many respects. First, in the face of the global economic downturn trailing COVID-19, the CCT stands Nigeria out as one of the nations that rolled out various financial support measures for the vulnerable. No one who is familiar with the perennial impecuniosity that is the lot of many rural dwellers will fail to appreciate that, properly utilised, a one-off release of N20, 000 to them can mean the difference between poverty and prosperity, sadness and joy, life and death.
In many of the rural areas, people are not able to raise N500 for malaria drugs let alone N5000 to start a small retail business. In many of our rural areas, market women go into periodic contributions, to save as little as N2000, to inject into or reactivate their businesses. Even at that, they do not always succeed because a financial obligation could clear the savings before maturity. To a woman who could hardly raise N2000 to revive her ailing moin-moin business, an instant cash injection of N20, 000, under the CCT of the Buhari administration is an incentive, catalyst, life-line and game-changer. Little wonder, at Ibadan, a beneficiary of CCT could not hold her joy, pouring encomiums on the federal government.
Remarkably, flagging off the Special Cash Grant for Rural Women programme, at Ibadan, Farouq disclosed that, since inception till early March, Oyo state had received N992, 715, 000 from the federal government, impacting the lives of 14, 022 poor and vulnerable households (PVHHs), in the state. It is gratifying that the ministry is engaged in fine-tuning the CCT, to meet changing needs and circumstances. Though the initial target is over 150, 000 poor rural women across the country, the minister’s promise that the social register was being expanded to cater for more vulnerable households will be welcome news to hundreds of thousands of women who, despite daily strivings, are rendered ineffectual due to cash crunch.
The judicious application of the CCT requires monitoring of the beneficiaries by officials of the FMHDSD and the state governments. This collaboration should be devoid of partisanship and sabotage. Achieving mass inclusion entails understanding the parameters used by the World Bank and the federal government in designing the programme.
The ambitious programme of lifting Nigerians out of poverty is the responsibility of all Nigerians. Through her effort, Sadiya Farouq has shown that even in the midst of a national crisis such as the worrisome security situation, the poor and vulnerable can rest assured that compassion and sincerity have not dried up in the land. Mbakogu writes from Abuja
