Agenda Papers Editorial: Stop free bags of rice & palliative money that doesn’t solve our challenges… Nigerians don’t need them— By Austine Uche-Ejeke

A fortnight ago the disturbing news of president Tinubu doling out some bags of rice rice to the students union government of the country’s universities and higher institutions hit the news stand in what many see as a rude shock.

Prior to that, same president Tinubu announced the payment of N75,000 to about 70 million Nigerians in what is popularly known as palliative hand-outs.

Tempting and consolatory as these freebies may look but many discerning Nigerians are asking the question of the need and relevance of all these in the face of the current situation in the country.

This has led to the question of whether Nigerians actually need all these hand-outs now or that the government should find something to do to better the lives of suffering Nigerians.

To some hard core cynics they wonder what this government has in union with dashing out bags of rice. This is predicated on the fact that at each point time this government falls back on rolling out bags of rice to people. They recount NLC strike, #EndBadGovernment hunger protest and other crisis which the government came out to dash bags of rice to indeterminable number of Nigerians.

Also enraged is the rationale of bringing out billions of naira to distribute to a number of people in a country where the amount of N75,000 given out cannot even buy a bag of rice.

To justify their anger, rejection and frustration of the bags of rice few days ago the students union government of Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife and that of Alhmadu Bello University, Zaria rejected the presidential bags of rice saying such largesse does not solve the fundamental challenges of Nigerian students and Nigerians in general.

Now to critically examine the relevance of this free gift of bags of rice all the time the big question is how long can Nigerians who benefit from the gift eat the rice. In a country where inflation has gone beyond the roof tops of what benefit will the rice do to them. It’s not even that beneficiaries collect full bags of rice, some may just go home with some cups or derica of rice at the end of the day.

What a visionary government should do is to find a way of mass producing rice to such an extent that the markets will be flooded with rice and subsequently crash the price.

But what do we see today, a situation where some farmers who are ready to farm will not be allowed to go to farm unmolested or being attacked by herdsmen and bandits.

It is our position that the money the government is using to buy these bags of rice should be deployed in providing security and enabling environment for farmers and other large scale investors to produce rice in quantities that will go round.

The rice Nigerians were buying at N8,000 in 2015 and N35,000 in May 2023 are now selling at over N100,000 per bag and this is s not what Nigerians bargained with the coming to power of Tinubu.

As such government should stop the frequent doling out bags of rice and concentrate on what they can do to see that the same rice is in abundance for Nigerians to buy for themselves at a relatively affordable price. In doing this government should work on the roads to make for easy evaluation of the farm produce to community and city centres where Nigerians can buy with ease.They should also dismantle irrelevant road blocks that extort money from farmers and transporters of the goods which at the end of the day shot up the price of these commodities. This is what a reasonable government should do.

We are in no way against dashing out of food items to hapless and vulnerable Nigerians but it must not be the government all the time. In saner climes like Canada they have such programme in place and it’s called Food Bank. The difference is that it’s been organized by NGOs like churches and other public spirited individuals and organizations who donate food to be shared to low income earners and newly arrived people in the country.

Coming to the side of dashing N75,000 to 70 million Nigerians we still frown at it as that is not going to solve the poverty problem of this country.

Why do we say so and it is because that amount can hardly do anything to a family of four in this present Nigeria. In fact it can barely last for two weeks with the current situation of things in the country.

That may not even be the main issue here as the big question is what data of recipients is the government using to distribute the cash.

For some time now there has been debate of that actual data base of low income earners or vulnerable Nigerians that this government always harp on.

Some Nigerians keep on wondering where the money go at the end of the day as they don’t usually see evidence or confession of Nigerians who have actually benefited from the federal government free cash. What usually happens at the end of the day is that these billions end up in the pockets of politicians and party members. At best they share the money to party faithfuls and loyals leaving non party members out of the largesse.

In the light of all these it is our considered opinion that such huge sums of money instead of being shared or relooted by politicians, family and friends of those in power should be deployed to establishment of employment generating schemes or determinable empowerment programme that will benefit thousands if not millions of Nigerians.

In conclusion it is our humble submission that in this age and time Nigerians should not be pushed or stampeded to death in their hundreds or queuing under sun and rain to collect bags or cups or derica of rice by government or public spirited individuals and organizations.

At the same time the president should stop forthwith the programme of dashing out bags of rice all the time. Rather he should find a way of making the country self sufficient in rice production to the extent of crashing the price to affordable level.

Also the government should as a matter of urgent national importance put a stop to wasting public money all in the name of dashing Nigerians money. Most Nigerians are not beggars but hardworking people who thrive in ekeing out a living by themselves and not living with questionable hand-outs by government.

Of what need is it to budget billions of naira in the name of sharing it to Nigerians and only for the money to end in the pockets of few individuals. This is the height of callousness and wickednes and must be stopped.

Students union government leaders of O.A.U and Ahmadu Bello Universities have shown us a good example of rejecting these toxic gift from government.

Nigerians should emulate this and say NO to this rubbish!

**Austine Uche-Ejeke, a public affairs analyst and publisher of Agenda Papers wrote vide eaustineuche@yahoo.com