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Besides the urgency of palliative roll-out to ease effects of fuel subsidy removal, its sustainability question is still left unanswered. Stakeholders are of the view that good investments in vital infrastructure should not be ignored, if the palliative efforts must last, Gloria Nwafor reports.
As the government mulls ways to alleviate effects of subsidy removal and its hardship on the populace, investments in critical infrastructure appears to be the most sustainable palliative with long-term benefits for the people.
Following the removal of fuel subsidy by President Bola Tinubu on May 29, he said his administration would re-channel the funds into better investment in public infrastructure, education, healthcare, and jobs that will materially improve the lives of millions.
He said progress towards national networks of roads, rail and ports should get priority attention.
Likewise, in his electioneering journey to the presidency, he promised to modernise and expand public infrastructure so that the rest of the economy could grow at an optimal rate.
For governments to bequeath their best to the citizens, the need to have adequate and critical infrastructure, Nigerians said could not be over-emphasised.
Ordinarily, with good roads, a journey from Lagos to Ibadan at an average speed of 120km/hr is about one hour. The distance from Lagos to Benin too is likewise three hours, while Lagos to Abuja is nine hours.
But due to bad roads and insecurity, embarking on a journey from Lagos to Ibadan of 45 minutes to one hour is now about four hours. Lagos to Benin of three hours is now six to seven hours.
A motorist, Yomi Adewale, who lamented the man-hours wasted on the road daily on a journey of less than three hours, said he spends close to eight hours commuting from Lagos to Benin.
He said if the government could make the roads motorable, the better for the citizens.
Another motorist, John Eze, who operates Lagos-Abuja, said the journey used to be smooth back then until the challenges of insecurity and bad roads took over.
He said to beat traffic in strategic areas that are perpetually gridlocked, travellers leave as early as 2:00 a.m. or 3:00 a.m. to reach their destinations on time.
Noting that driving is no longer a lucrative business due to bad road networks, he said if government fixes critical infrastructure, it would be the best palliative government could give to the citizens, rather than sharing money with households.
A citizen also said: “Going to the East now will take a full day due to bad roads and lack of good infrastructure. If there is a better road of about 10 lanes, many people will never near the airport. Flying naturally should be because you want to fly and should not be hinged on bad roads or insecurity. The delays are sometimes caused during air travel. You would have even reached your destination if the roads were good enough.
“So, what Nigerians need now is critical infrastructure, which is the biggest palliative. The biggest palliative to the people is to have a critical infrastructure.”
The Federal Government had made plans to distribute the $800m World Bank loan to households to cushion the effect of subsidy removal.
Earlier in April, during the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration, the Federal Government had promised that it would pay N5,000 to 10 million households or 50 million Nigerians for six months as a palliative for removing petrol subsidy after June for six months, using the $800m World Bank loan to fund the project.
But the disbursement did not come to fruition until the administration left office.
Organised labour had said that the problem in Nigeria was deeper than sharing money or talking about palliative.
Labour had queried the idea of N8000 monthly to 12 million Nigerians, compared with the hyperinflation and socio-economic challenges the nation is currently battling with.
According to them, with about 133 million Nigerians that are multi-dimensionally suffering from poverty, N8000 for six months, which translates to N48,000 in six months, will not eradicate nor alleviate poverty in 12 million household’s lives.
A Public Affairs analyst, Jide Ojo said the $800m World Bank loan should have been earmarked for the improvement of infrastructure across 768 LGs and six Area Councils of FCT with an implementation committee to do need community assessment to improve dilapidated schools, roads or Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs).
He said having infrastructural development at the community level would impact lives better.
He said what happens with Conditional Cash Transfers is that those who are well-to-do are mostly beneficiaries and the most vulnerable will not get them.
According to him, “It is about the selection, as there is always lopsidedness in the distribution. It is better to look at critical infrastructure at the grassroots level like PHCs, some are moribund, which could be revived. Things that will impact everybody’s lives in Local Government Areas, because there will be no transparency in the selection process.
“Part of the challenge is that people abuse their offices with this kind of gesture. They will turn it into political things, and in the end, you will have 12 million households who can easily afford three square meals and do not need to be beneficiaries, whereas the poor people will never get to hear about this. I do not believe in cash transfers. Let us look at infrastructural development at the community level that will impact lives better in those communities at the grassroots level, in that way, it will be more impactful.”
Just like many Nigerians were not comfortable with the government’s conditional cash transfers due to trust deficit, they recalled how COVID-19 palliatives meant for the citizens were hijacked and distributed among party loyalists in the thick of the coronavirus pandemic.
A report on ‘COVID-19 Fund: Fiscal Support, Palliative Analysis and Institutional Response,’ by the civic advocacy group, BudgIT, reviewed Nigeria’s current fiscal support and institutional response to the pandemic, analysed data on COVID-19 response in Nigeria, including donations, allocations, disbursements and palliative distribution processes at both the national and subnational levels.
The report revealed then that in most monitored local government areas in Lagos, including Agege, Mushin, Ikorodu, Sururlere and Epe, palliatives were hijacked and diverted by politicians and shared among party members.
The report said some residents who are not members of the party lamented the hijack and their exclusion from the whole distribution process.
During the period, a private coalition of donors and corporate founders, CACOVID, received donations totalling N21.5 billion.
Already, the Federal Government disbursed N288 billion from the N500 billion set aside for COVID-19 intervention programmes through its Economic Sustainability Plan.
However, no comprehensive details of disbursed funds have been published on the Open Treasury platform, which further establishes concerns about the lack of a proper framework for COVID-19 fund accountability in Nigeria.
For Nigerians, the ongoing conversation on palliatives and data gathering through the social register for conditional cash transfer should be abolished and focus should be tilted towards fixing critical infrastructure.
A Professor of Economics at the Lagos Business School (LBS), Bongo Adi, said it is not wage increase that is needed at this time, but the introduction of monetary policy to fight inflation, as well as fixing critical infrastructure.
According to him, if the government expands the means of transportation and also expands the movement of goods and commodities nationwide, it will improve the living condition of Nigerians, reduce the cost of living, and improve the purchasing power of people’s incomes.
“If you increase wages by 200 per cent and inflation rises by 200 per cent, it doesn’t help; you are still where you were. What will happen when wages are increased now is a proportionate inflationary vault. That is what nobody wants. What can improve quality of life and purchasing power right now is for inflation to drop. We may have N30,000 as a minimum wage, but let’s have inflation drop by 50 per cent. It means that the N30,000 minimum wage can now afford us twice more purchasing power as before.
“With an addition of 500 buses, let them charge the pre-subsidy removal transportation fare, and people will begin to use them. The little money made would be used to service those vehicles. Each state should replicate the same and charge prices for pre-subsidy removal. That will help people more than increasing their wages.
“There is a need for the government to also partner with the private sector to introduce trucks that will help to ferry commodities from different states, from rural areas to the cities; that will also reduce the cost of food,” he said.
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