Following plans by the Tinubu led government to pay N8,000 each every month for a period of six months to every poor household in Nigeria, from the N500billion naira it borrowed, critics have questioned the government the modus operandi it intends to use to reach out to these so-called poor households and the data it will use in determining and reaching the intended targets.
One of those expressing cynicism at the workability of this plan is the Auxiliary Bishop of Abuja Archdiocese, Anslem Umoren, who has questioned the Federal Government’s plan to give N8,000 to 12million households in Nigeria for six months.
Speaking with news men on Sunday, on the sidelines of the Mass and Charter Presentation ceremony of Serra Club, Garki Abuja, Umoren enquires those that will benefit from the N8,000 and the data the Federal Government intend to use to carry out its plan, insisting that Nigerians are over 200 million.
Recall that president Tinubu had, in a request to the National Assembly, pointed out the intention to cater for the welfare of poor and vulnerable households in the country under the National Safety Net Programme of the Federal Government.
According to Tinubu, N8,000 would be transferred monthly, digitally, to the accounts of 12 million poor and low-income households for six months.
“I want to call on the government to do all it plans to alleviate the sufferings of the people, it cannot be business as usual,” Umoren said.
“I don’t want to believe all that I see in the media is true; 8,000 households, which data are you using? Who is going to benefit from it? We are over 200 million.
“They need to rethink what they are trying to do to make sure that what they are doing will reach out to everyone. Otherwise, it will be the same as before.”
The question people are asking is: how many of the poor own or operate a bank account? And how does the government plan on extending the palliatives to this category of the poor without any bank account?
