Mrs Maryam Uwais, Special Adviser to the President on Social Investments, PHOTO: NAN

By Mon-Charles Egbo

The much-expected victory over the COVID-19 can be achieved only by good governance defined by unity of purpose among the arms of government, especially between the executive and the legislature. With diligent collaboration, they can make sacrifices, act systematically and in most cases urgently, to provide lasting fulfilments for the people. This is one apparently-forgotten fact that the coronavirus pandemic has suddenly brought to the fore.

Though countries are already economically over-stretched with majority struggling with debt burdens, governments are painstakingly seeking to preserve and prolong the lives of citizens. Nigeria of course, is not left out in this emergency situation especially as it did not take necessary actions timeously, despite early push by the legislature.

As soon as the outbreak was reported even with no suspected incident yet in Nigeria, the senate president, Ahmad Lawan, had proactively risen to the leadership responsibilities of protecting the country from possible attack of the virus. He quickly hosted a meeting with the relevant stakeholders primarily to ascertain the level of preparedness of particularly the health sector. Within the next twenty-four hours, he led the senate leadership to inspect the infectious diseases isolation and treatment centre at the Abuja university teaching hospital. Not satisfied with the deplorable state of the facility largely due to underfunding, he instantly activated the mechanisms that eventually secured the immediate release of over N600m deployed to reposition the complex for the services it is offering even today. He also saw to the release of N5b for the operations of the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control and N10b for Lagos State, being the epicenter of the pandemic. The senate made several crucial resolutions which the assembly leadership followed up with incessant consultations with the presidency including the critical ministries, agencies and organs.

Those legislative interventions that largely took place while the lockdown lasted, accounted for the overall response and containment strategies of the federal government till date. Some of them include the periodic presidential broadcast, inauguration of the task force for coordination in the crisis management, banning of international flights and closure of borders, continual establishment of laboratories and testing centres, lock-down of high-risk areas, reactivation of the national social intervention programme, SIP, for sustained dispensing of federal government’s direct responses to minimize the economic impact of the pandemic. And quite instructive, the senate president has been very vocal that palliatives are essential in stemming the tide. Availability of food and money can help keep the masses off the streets for strict observance of the precautionary measures in place towards defeating the pandemic. Lawan consequently warned that lockdown without adequate provision for relief packages would amount to double jeopardy.

According to him, “if we have to eventually shut down our country, then as a government we must be prepared to have some relief for the most ordinary people. If we lock up Nigeria today, then we will wake-up trouble, because the majority of our citizens go to the market every day before they can get something to eat. So, you lock them up in their houses with a threat of disease and without food”?

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And incidentally, while the other government initiatives are relatively yielding positive results, the processes and procedures for the administration of the material and financial supports to the less-priviledged citizens have been generating reservations. They range from complaints of the palliatives being used for political capitals as they end up in the hands of those that do not actually deserve them, diversion of the incentives by some of those dispensing them, absence of transparency, accountability and effectiveness, to lopsided distribution sequel to questionable records of beneficiaries. There is also agitation for involvement of state and local governments for the project to be truly broad-based and remove the doubts as to the parametres for eligibility. This is further reinforced by reports in most quartres that, the poor, not to talk of the poorest of the poor, are yet to see the palliatives though the minister for humanitarian affairs and disaster management has recently commenced efforts at changing the narrative. But how impactful those haphazard and shallow approaches would turn out is a function of time. Meanwhile, another potential harm to the general response and intervention activities is possible failure to achieve judicious utilization of the donations from the private sector, multinationals and development agencies.

All these issues and other lapses are currently agitating the minds of well-meaning Nigerians. But thankfully, the national assembly is already thinking ahead. The senate president is vigourously canvassing for comprehensive strengthening of the social intervention programme through appropriate legal backings. He is convinced that with sustained collaborative efforts between the legislature and the executive, the long-term goal of president Buhari to lift many Nigerians out of poverty would be attained timely and also the socioeconomic crunch of the covid-19 would be reduced to the barest minimum. Among others, there should be a functional template for implementation which will guarantee accountability. He is also passionate about fair and equitable distribution of infrastructural development across the nation so that every geopolitical zone feels a sense of belonging.

In one of his recent advocacies, Lawan disclosed that “we had an engagement with Mr President to discuss with him what we, the leadership of the National Assembly, have resolved and our opinion on various issues regarding the fight against COVID-19 in Nigeria and going forward. We also believe that it is time to reform the way and manner we implement the Social Investment Programme. This is a very important programme that is to help Nigerians who are poor and vulnerable. We believe that, having implemented this programme from 2016 to date, we should be reviewing to evaluate the efficacy and efficiency with which we have been implementing this programme.”

Even as the risk grows by day, the senate is committed to making sacrifices for the overall welfare of the people. Added to the above interventions, it recently reconvened solely to review certain executive proposals aimed at reviving the economy. In the end, it approved presidency’s request to borrow N850billion loan to finance projects in the 2020 budget. It is note-worthy that the request was not a fresh one but a modification of what the senate had earlier consented to. The difference being that instead of sourcing the loan from the international markets, it can now be obtained from the domestic capital markets due to the global socio-economic impacts of the pandemic. And in further show of dedication to ensuring that the responses and interventions are indeed meaningful, the senate urged the executive to appropriate 10% of gross domestic product (GDP) as stimulus package for investment into key sectors. It also halted the controversial deployment of the telecommunications 5G technology pending thorough investigation and possible resolution of the suspected inherent health hazards.

READ ALSO: FG engages ICPC, to check corruption in Social Investment Programmes

Understandably, federal government was late to act but the commendable proactive and sustained efforts of the national assembly should be complemented. As such, this dispassionate proposal to re-energize the SIP for optimal performance through appropriate legislations should be embraced by all. Currently, there is a gap for synergy among governments at all levels including other specialized organs and development organizations, at least to straighten the processes and procedures employed in determining the true beneficiaries of the cash transfer scheme, particularly.

Therefore as the national assembly awaits the executive bills on the proposed N500b Intervention Fund for the coronavirus pandemic as well as the review of the 2020 budget, it is natural that the legal framework to reposition the SIP for improved and sustainable service delivery be equally perfected. The possibilities in this all-important reform inspire hope for the citizenry in the long-run. So instead of the unnecessary politics about the future of the national social intervention programme, concerted efforts should be mobilized for a purposeful partnership towards efficiency and effectiveness in favour of the Nigerian masses.

Vanguard News Nigeria