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As poverty continues to take a toll on households, stakeholders said that rather than using a palliative approach to address the challenges the government should create the right economic opportunities as well as policies to bring down the prices of goods.
They argued that a system where the government cannot continue to distribute largesse to the people without intervention in growth areas. The approach, they said, would continue to brew corruption among the people and those involved in the distribution.
They bared their minds following the new appointments of heads of agencies by President Bola Tinubu, Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development.
The new appointments were made following the sack of the previous leadership over the alleged diversion of funds meant to be distributed to the citizens under the social intervention programme and palliatives into private pockets.
Appointing new heads, they further argued, was another corruption paradise the government created, stating that “those things don’t go far”.
Speaking on the subject, an economist, Dr Muda Yusuf, said he does not believe in the model of intervention but “in ensuring that the economy works well and people can go the markets and buy things cheaply”.
“By ensuring money has value and irrespective of your income, you can buy something good with it. That way you will be able to bring down poverty and opportunities to grow the economy. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) would be able to recruit more people. How many people do you want to share bags of rice with, and how many times in the year? How can you ensure equity and transparency in distribution? Those things do not go far; it is another corruption paradise the government is creating,” he said.
While commending the President for taking urgent steps to sanitise the ministry, the Director-General of the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA), Adewale-Smatt Oyerinde, said what the government needed to do was to ensure more transparency and credibility in the management of the interventions.
Reacting also, a public affairs analyst, Jide Ojo, said it would be very important to have proper oversight of the new appointees not just in the humanitarian ministry but across the board.
He demanded that key performance indicators (KPIs) be handed to the appointees to track their performances and hold them accountable.
“We also need who should track the performances of about 1 300 Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs), including foreign nationals in the country, like the Department of Monitoring and Evaluation in every MDA and a National Coordinator office that oversees performance to ensure they are track with their KPIs.
“Were there KPIs that were given to them? This should be given to them because if there are no KPIs, then you cannot hold them accountable. There should be KPIs to track their performances and why the deliverables are not met. They should not disappoint the office, their families, and their fatherland because integrity is very important,” he said.
Also, Assistant General Secretary of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Chris Onyeka, said the foundation of those appointments was already shaky abi nitio, alleging that they might not be able to deliver anything.
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