And the poor shall smile

Thanks to the care and the generosity of the APC and its federal government, the poorest of the poor in nine states of the federation are now N5,000 richer this month. The implementation of this controversial policy is officially known as “social security.”  We have no inkling of its rationale but my informed guess is […]

Thanks to the care and the generosity of the APC and its federal government, the poorest of the poor in nine states of the federation are now N5,000 richer this month. The implementation of this controversial policy is officially known as “social security.”  We have no inkling of its rationale but my informed guess is that it is intended to cushion the poorest of the poor against the vagaries of both the domestic and the global economy. The less elegant name for this is recession. 

Happy days are here at last for the poor. This qualifies, in my view, as an unchallengeable evidence that the poor shall inherit the earth. You may wish to confirm that in the sermon on the mount by the Son of Man himself.

The APC leaders might do well to moderate the sound of their chest beating. This was not their brilliant idea. It is an old one by the PDP under Obasanjo. APC merely dusted it off to give it the shine of a new idea. Pity APC leaders.

At least two things flow from this revamped policy, both of which are fundamental to how we may likely do our political and social business from now on. One, a political party holds itself to its electioneering campaign promise to remember the poorest of the poor. Splendid. Let us not hasten to chalk this up as the dawn of responsible party/political discharge of responsibilities. But we can at least chuckle. Our politicians now realise that the continued neglect of the poor who put them in power is a veritable threat to their perch on the totem pole of political power.

Two, for the first time in our history, the poor will, from now feature in our social and economic calculations. Every federal budget will have a provision that officially gives the poor the right to also chop. They no longer need to wait for the crumbs to fall from the masters’ tables. With N5,000, a month in their tattered pockets, they too now have their own tables where they sit and chop. I suggest that the richest of the rich and the poorest of the poor should redefine the basis for their mutual dependence. This could be the radical transformation of our country. I can see a gradual depletion in the rank of house boys and house girls. Yep, we should be glad that we have found a home-grown formula for rescuing the poorest of the poor by pushing them up one rung of the ladder to level up with their senior colleagues, the poor. Splendid.

Why do I not welcome this as the Eureka moment for our dear country? I see a k-leg. The policy and its implementation raise some fundamental questions about our economic husbandry and our attitude towards meeting the critical national challenges of poverty and impoverishment. These questions are neither foolish nor do they necessarily question the wisdom of the government. In any case, the world does not revolve on the axis of wisdom alone. The presence of foolishness makes wisdom possible. 

The first point to note is that the implementation of the programme took off last week on the left foot. The decision to begin the implementation in nine out of the 36 states puts a huge question mark on the government’s state of readiness for the programme. I do not think the policy provides for a pilot scheme in its implementation. This being so, the implementation ought to have begun in all the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory on the same day. It is not wise to make the poorest of the poor in Nasarawa State be jealous of their counterparts in Kogi State.

What exactly is the rationale for this policy? We, the people, do not know for sure; yet it is our common purse that funds the programme. Is it fair to keep the people in the dark about the real intentions of government? I do wish to convince myself that this is not political antics in the business of acknowledging the presence of the poorest of the poor among us. I believe it is such an important policy that should be properly explained and sold to the people. The support of the people is critical to the success of all social, economic and political policies and programmes. This is not a nation of obtuse men and women. We too sabi something. 

Is this intended as a pilot scheme for a social welfare policy? I am sure we would welcome a properly articulated social welfare programme. This, of course, is a heavy governmental and security responsibility and must not be embarked upon without a full appreciation of its implications and ramifications. However, I can think of no country that introduced its social welfare programme piecemeal by paying some stipend to the poorest of the poor.

Let us try and call a spade a spade. This policy does not present itself to the world as evidence of sound or prudent economic management. Our economy is trying hard, I would imagine, to stay afloat on the turbulent waters of recession. A waste such as this does not improve its chances of berthing soon.

The challenge before the Nigerian state in dealing with poverty and impoverishment is too big to allow for a cosmetic approach that may generate applause but leaves the fundamentals crying for due attention. That challenge is for the Nigerian state to teach its poor citizens how to fish, not to give them fish. To give them fish is to deepen their dependence on government. It is difficult to convince a man who believes that government owes him a living that his pair of hands are meant to feed his one mouth. Our university graduates believed that in the recent past. 

I can find no example of any nation in world history that successfully tackled poverty and impoverishment with a monthly pittance to its poor. It would be nice to see our country set an example with current policy.

For the poor to fish, there must be rivers to which they must have access. Chief among our problems in giving the poor a fair deal is the systemic narrowing of economic and social opportunities through policies and practices that are inimical to the capacity of the individual to fish rather than wait for the fish from the government. Nigerians are reputed for their hard work – from the woman who roasts corn and yams by the roadside to the young men selling apples in go-slow. They have the initiative and they have the resilience. Their only problem is the systemic impoverishment by government policy summersaults.

I call for a paradigm shift in our economic management in a way that bridges the chasm that separates the rich from the poor; the have from the have-nots. A nation of the superlative rich and the superlative poor provides a recipe for its backward progress.

We need a new attitude to prevent the systemic pauperisation of the poor and the impoverishment of the middle class. Let us give the poor opportunities to fish and feed their families. Hand outs would not cut it. Not in a million years. No, Sir.