Accessing intervention funds

The Senate is always angry with the way and manner many government projects and programs are being executed. It has every reason to be incensed, enraged and infuriated especially as it is dealing with a government it considers grossly inexpert and inefficient in it transactions. That was why it has always assumed the role of a whistle blower, ready to expose wrongdoings especially in correspondences with its counterpart in the Presidency.

An archetypal example was the running battle it had with the executive arm of the government in December, 2015 when this year’s budget estimates were submitted by President Muhammadu Buhari. The Senate had subsequently disapproved gross anomalies and mistakes contained in the document which was consequently withdrawn and appropriately amended. Again, on Tuesday the Senate also unanimously rejected President Buhari’s External Borrowing Rolling Plan request of almost 30 billion US Dollars because it was fraught with inconsistencies and vagueness apart from the scanty details about the profile of the proposed debt. Like the draft of this year’s budget the borrowing plan will be represented after necessary amendments on the debt plans have been duly carried out.
However, the Senate is not unnecessarily being officious in its relationship with the executive arm of the government. It is full of seasoned members that are fully conversant with procedural matters and would always insist that things must be done the right way.

It has again found ample reason to meddle and interfere officially in the realm of the executive as it sought to give useful and helpful advice on the management of 500 billion Naira Social Intervention Fund captured in this year’s budget. The Upper Chamber had allegedly said that the entire concept of the disbursement of the fund was actually mired in extreme uncertainty and gross mismanagement.
The Senate urged the government to urgently take drastic measures to save the social intervention scheme from suffering the same unpleasant fate that befell similar schemes in the past, such as Subsidy Re-investment Empowerment Project, SURE-P. There is palpable fear among most Senators that if the current Social Intervention Fund is not effectively administered, nothing of meaningful value is to be achieved with the first installment of 500 billion Naira, and it was doubtful if it could create any desired effect. That was what motivated the Senate to adopt a motion intended to create the need to avoid the mismanagement of the 500 billion Social Intervention Funds sponsored by Senate leader, Muhammad Ali Ndume.

By so doing, the Senate had clearly signified its intention to ask the government to present a clear framework that does not marginalize any segment of Nigerian society, no matter where they may be in the country and present same to the National Assembly for passage into law. In that case, the government should ensure that the implementation of the ongoing program is restyled to be forceful and encompassing so as to reach the poorest people in the remotest communities for whom the program was conceived. Accordingly, a clear channel of accountability for the implementation of the program must be facilitated and audited on a continuous basis and its reports made available to the National Assembly. This has to be done, especially in view of the fact that the cardinal policy of the APC-led government has always been to cast social safety nets through social intervention schemes to bring about increased welfare, inclusive growth and boundless opportunity for the people.
It is instructive to note that it is through the instrumentality of Social Intervention Fund of 500 billion Naira the Buhari administration intends to create jobs for five-hundred-thousand teachers; provide five-and-a-half million children with meals through school feeding programs; effect conditional cash transfer schemes and provide financial support of five-thousand Naira to each of the carefully selected one million vulnerable beneficiaries. These are in addition to complimentary enterprise programs targeted at empowering up to one million market women, four hundred thousand workmen and two hundred thousand agricultural workers nationwide.

What is worrisome and of fundamental concern to all is how the Social Intervention Fund is being administered in a manner reminiscent of a program which had woefully failed in the past. That was because previous undertakings were done without proper framework which led to ultimate failure. The new concept requiring would be beneficiary of the fund to register on line is faulty and counterproductive as it clearly discriminates against rural folks, especially men and women who are technologically disadvantaged. In that case people living in the remotest parts of the country, especially in strife-ridden areas of Northeast and Niger Delta Regions are to be automatically disqualified from the scheme.
To sum it up, a proper social intervention scheme needed at this time must be vigorous and purposeful to capture all segments of the Nigerian population. Nigeria and its numerous social programs are not exclusively intended for the elites but for the peoples of Nigeria including the frail, infirm and vulnerable citizens.