As a way of curbing billions of naira being mismanaged or looted on yearly basis as palliatives for poor Nigerians, the federal government should look in the direction of food vouchers, Senator Jimoh Ibrahim ( APC Ondo South ), has said.
Senator Ibrahim, who chairs the Senate Committee on Inter – Parliamentary Affairs , proffered the multi – dimensional economic solutions at an interactive session with journalists covering the Senate on Wednesday.
He said apart from helping to put an end to the leaking baskets of palliatives being churned out to poor Nigerians on yearly basis, the food voucher, would also help to ameliorate the problem of food insecurity in the country and perfectly fill the yarning gap of cash to GDP ratio in the country, which according to him is 1.5%.
“Food vouchers if introduced and issued by the federal government to poor Nigerians across the 36 states of the country and 774 local government councils , would serve the purpose which is meant for, as against N15 billion palliatives given to state governors by the federal government with attendant mismanagement or even outright diversion.
“Secondly, since our cash to GDP ratio in Nigeria is very small, food vouchers will replace naira for food purchase by the poor or any Nigerian given.
“Cash to GDP ratio means country’s currency in circulation to its Gross Domestic Product.
“It is calculated by dividing the amount of cash in circulation by the Country’s Gross Domestic Product, which is very low in Nigeria, compared to many other countries, particularly the developed ones, with 5 to 10% ratio.
“The present administration headed by President Bola Tinubu inherited an economy of cash to GDP ratio of 1% and has succeeded to increase it to 1.52% , and putting a series of well envisioned policies and reforms on ground for further increase,” he stated.
