President Bola Tinubu has been urged by Dr. Tarila Marclint Ebiede, Director of Conflict Research Network, West Africa (CORN), to prevent politicians from using his social protection scheme.
Ebiede cautioned the President against letting politicians control the palliative care distribution process.
He claimed that there is a chance that the nation’s social protection policies will be politically seized, which would prevent disadvantaged people from receiving the benefits of social protection measures.
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At the CORN-organized symposium on “Social protection and economic uncertainties in fragile and conflict-affected societies,” which took place in Abuja on Sunday, Ebiede made the call.
In order to ensure transparency and effectiveness in the use of social protection money, he urged for greater research on social protection in Nigeria.
Transparency with the social registry is essential for an effective social protection system. The government must also understand that poverty cannot be solved by social protection on its own. The implementation of economic programs by the government is vital to tackle poverty in a sustained manner. Instead of focusing solely on social safety, the government should step up efforts to improve peoples’ economic situations.
In his presentation, Professor Remi Aiyede, Research and Policy Uptake Lead at the Partnership for African Social and Governance Research (PASGR), Nairobi, Kenya, pointed out that palliative care should not be given to party members as favors; rather, it should be directed toward the poorest of the poor.
In his keynote speech, “Social Protection in Times of Crisis,” Aiyede stated that it is disrespectful and provocative for public servants to engage in ostentatious spending that feeds their own egos when the majority of the populace is going hungry and on a limited budget.
It is imperative to highlight that the current concentration on cash transfers in social protection is insufficient to bring about the necessary transformation of social conditions that the progressive state is supposed to bring about. Programs for social assistance, such as cash transfers, tend to overlook inequality in favor of addressing chronic poverty. The progressive state’s social protection program aims to create an inclusive society in order to promote shared prosperity. The foundations of social services, social assistance, social insurance, and social promotion should all be included in social protection.