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The Nigerian government is set to introduce a social safety
net that would allow millions of poor citizens enjoy cash
backups to meet their basic socio-economic needs, the
Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, announced
Tuesday.
The minister, who disclosed this in Abuja during her
appearance on the Ministerial Platform to brief the media on
the programmes of her ministry, said arrangements towards
the take-off of the scheme were being finalized.
Unlike several other countries, Nigeria presently runs no
social security package for either the poor, unemployed, aged
or women. Only a few states, such as Ekiti and Ogun, provide
monthly support to the aged.
The outgone Fayemi government paid N5,000 monthly to the
elderly.
In South Africa, for instance, social services for the citizens
forms a significant part of the country’s annual budget.
Bills pushing for government support to unemployed and aged
Nigerians have remained stuck in the National Assembly for
years.
Details of the new plans announced by the finance minister
are not clear yet.
Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala merely said the proposed Social Safety
Net would be specifically targeted at the rural poor and would
serve as a financial support to help beneficiaries send their
children to school and access primary health care, amongst
others benefits.
The minister said already the scheme has already undergone
experimentation in Kano State to see how useful it would be
in sending the girl-child to school.
The result so far, she said, has showed remarkable leap in
girls’ enrollment in schools in the area.
Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala said the government would expand the
scope and extend cash access to poor families to enable them
to move up from the poverty trap to get their children
educated and get their health index right.
“Government has asked an Inter-Ministerial Committee
headed by the Ministry of Finance to work on this issue,” she
said. “So as we speak, we are looking at what is called a
Social Safety Net, which is designed to bring people at the
bottom in poverty up. We are looking at various mechanisms,
the biggest social safety net is jobs.”
She said the government would also be focusing on sectors
that were not creating jobs fast enough, to replace them with
other programmes capable of supporting the Subsidy
Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) to
create jobs for more people to save Nigerians from hand-
outs.
The minister, who used the opportunity to review the
performance of the economy and the budget, said the
government was committed to sustaining the macroeconomic
stability achieved so far by adopting appropriate fiscal and
other measures to diversify Nigeria’s revenue base and
improve the level of prudence in the management of available
resources.
According to Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala, despite the downturn and
serious uncertainties about the growth prospects of many
economies globally, the outlook of Nigeria’s economy
remained bright.
She cited the rebased Gross Domestic Product, GDP, figures,
single inflation rate and a robust foreign reserves profile as
well as increasing opening up of the economy for private
investments.
She assured that government was ready to do everything to
ensure that the economy was not exposed to the current
shocks that may be occasioned by the dwindling oil export
revenues.
To ensure that declining revenue flows did not affect ongoing
programmes targeted, the minister said plans had reached an
advanced stage to create mechanisms to protect the economy
against likely shocks from the current dwindling oil revenues
from crude oil exports.
She identified the Agricultural, Housing, Telecommunications,
Entertainment, Water, Health, Works and others as sectors
enjoying substantial support of government in terms of
funding over the past two years.
Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala disclosed that about $14.1 billion had
been raised from various global multilateral and other
financial institutions to support the various sectors.
net that would allow millions of poor citizens enjoy cash
backups to meet their basic socio-economic needs, the
Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, announced
Tuesday.
The minister, who disclosed this in Abuja during her
appearance on the Ministerial Platform to brief the media on
the programmes of her ministry, said arrangements towards
the take-off of the scheme were being finalized.
Unlike several other countries, Nigeria presently runs no
social security package for either the poor, unemployed, aged
or women. Only a few states, such as Ekiti and Ogun, provide
monthly support to the aged.
The outgone Fayemi government paid N5,000 monthly to the
elderly.
In South Africa, for instance, social services for the citizens
forms a significant part of the country’s annual budget.
Bills pushing for government support to unemployed and aged
Nigerians have remained stuck in the National Assembly for
years.
Details of the new plans announced by the finance minister
are not clear yet.
Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala merely said the proposed Social Safety
Net would be specifically targeted at the rural poor and would
serve as a financial support to help beneficiaries send their
children to school and access primary health care, amongst
others benefits.
The minister said already the scheme has already undergone
experimentation in Kano State to see how useful it would be
in sending the girl-child to school.
The result so far, she said, has showed remarkable leap in
girls’ enrollment in schools in the area.
Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala said the government would expand the
scope and extend cash access to poor families to enable them
to move up from the poverty trap to get their children
educated and get their health index right.
“Government has asked an Inter-Ministerial Committee
headed by the Ministry of Finance to work on this issue,” she
said. “So as we speak, we are looking at what is called a
Social Safety Net, which is designed to bring people at the
bottom in poverty up. We are looking at various mechanisms,
the biggest social safety net is jobs.”
She said the government would also be focusing on sectors
that were not creating jobs fast enough, to replace them with
other programmes capable of supporting the Subsidy
Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) to
create jobs for more people to save Nigerians from hand-
outs.
The minister, who used the opportunity to review the
performance of the economy and the budget, said the
government was committed to sustaining the macroeconomic
stability achieved so far by adopting appropriate fiscal and
other measures to diversify Nigeria’s revenue base and
improve the level of prudence in the management of available
resources.
According to Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala, despite the downturn and
serious uncertainties about the growth prospects of many
economies globally, the outlook of Nigeria’s economy
remained bright.
She cited the rebased Gross Domestic Product, GDP, figures,
single inflation rate and a robust foreign reserves profile as
well as increasing opening up of the economy for private
investments.
She assured that government was ready to do everything to
ensure that the economy was not exposed to the current
shocks that may be occasioned by the dwindling oil export
revenues.
To ensure that declining revenue flows did not affect ongoing
programmes targeted, the minister said plans had reached an
advanced stage to create mechanisms to protect the economy
against likely shocks from the current dwindling oil revenues
from crude oil exports.
She identified the Agricultural, Housing, Telecommunications,
Entertainment, Water, Health, Works and others as sectors
enjoying substantial support of government in terms of
funding over the past two years.
Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala disclosed that about $14.1 billion had
been raised from various global multilateral and other
financial institutions to support the various sectors.
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