‘Panic Reaction to Atiku’s Plan’ — ADC Mocks FG’s $1bn Social Fund

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has described the Federal Government’s announcement of $1 billion social protection fund as a panic reaction to Atiku Abubakar’s plan to reverse subsidy in order to bring down the cost of living if elected.

Bolaji Abdullahi, National Publicity Secretary of the ADC, in a statement also accused President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of impoverishing Nigerians through “failed economic policies and then attempting to buy them back” with what “a hurriedly contrived palliative few months to elections.”

ADC also questioned where the government suddenly found the money after three years of asking Nigerians to endure hardship, also questioning the role of the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu in the launch of the programme.

ADC said while it has noted the announcement by the Federal Government of a $1 billion social protection programme, unveiled by the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, “We find this sudden discovery of compassion, and money, quite remarkable. For three years, Nigerians have cried under the weight of food prices, transport costs and collapsing purchasing power, while this government insisted that there was no money to cushion the effects of its reforms.

“Now that elections are approaching, it has suddenly found $1 billion for the poor. If the government could somehow conjure up this money, why did it remain indifferent to the suffering of Nigerians for three years? Or did the poor only become visible when their votes become valuable?”

The opposition party said even more instructive is the present administration’s own admission that “Nigerians now require protection from the economic shocks associated with its failed reforms, including the removal of fuel subsidy. This is precisely what our Presidential Candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has been saying in proposing a targeted production subsidy to bring down the cost of living.”

ADC argued why it took Atiku’s plan for the All Progressives Congress, APC “government to remember that economic reforms must protect human beings?

“Nigerians will not forget that President Tinubu’s ill-conceived and terribly executed reforms have made their lives a living hell. They will not forget that under Tinubu, economic reforms mean seven out of ten Nigerians have found it difficult to feed themselves; that businesses have collapsed; that Nigeria has became one of the top poorest countries of the world; that mortuaries have become fuller, that the blood of Nigerians have flowed freely under this administration. No amount of palliative, by whatever fancy names they are called, will make them forget this painful period.

“There is also the small matter of accountability, which this administration has found quite abhorrent. The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs says that more than N600 billion has already been disbursed in cash transfers over the last three years, reaching slightly more than 10 million households. What evidence exists of actual beneficiaries, and what measurable impact did that N600 billion have? Have these numbers ever been independently verified?”

ADC said the government has not told Nigerians what it is going to do differently, “but no one is in doubt what this $1 billion intervention is about: a political programme by a government desperate to show something as the election approaches after spending three years getting richer while the people get poorer.

“A government whose so-called reform has destroyed purchasing power through higher food, fuel, transport and energy costs, cannot now return with a one-off N40,000 per family, which it cynically tagged “shock-response payment.” This makes one to wonder if this is not indeed a vote-buying programme.”

The statement said while it is not unusual for the wife of the president to recognise to lend her voice to worthy humanitarian causes or even run her own pet projects, “we find it quite strange that an unelected, and therefore unaccountable individual, is launching a social intervention programme involving $1 billion in the name of the Federal Government.

“Which makes us to ask again: Is this a Federal Government programme or a project of the First Lady? Who exactly is funding it? Under which budget head or financing arrangement was the money approved? What was the approval process? Which public institution is the accounting authority? Who controls disbursement and who answers to the Auditor-General and the National Assembly?

“If these are public funds, what statutory authority does the Office of the First Lady have over them, if any? If the First Lady is merely unveiling the programme on behalf of the government, government should say so clearly.

“One billion dollars is public business, and public business requires transparency. Every expenditure of government can only be undertaken based on established guidelines by people constitutionally authorised to do so. Where does the First Lady fit in within the official organogram of government?”