‘It shows disdain for Nigerians’ — Falana-led group faults Buhari’s Oct 1 speech

The Alliance for the Survival of COVID-19 and Beyond (ASCAB) says the independence day speech delivered by President Muhammadu Buhari shows the disdain he has towards Nigerians.

The group, in a statement tagged “Separating Fiction from Fact, Myth and from Reality”, signed by Femi Falana, ASCAB chairman, said some of the facts presented by the president failed to reflect existing realities.

Faulting Buhari’s reference to the Social Investment Programme (SIP) which includes the farmer moni and trader moni schemes, school feeding programme, and the agriculture intervention initiatives, ASCAB said it is characterised by fraud.

“In the four years and four annual budget cycles since 2016, a total of N2tn was appropriated in the budgets, however, only N300bn which is less than 20% of allocated funds was ever released and expended on the SIP, including funds expended on the conditional cash transfers (CCTs),” the group said.

“We also know, in the period since 2015, that poverty has risen, and so has unemployment.”

Citing the household poverty survey, a five-year study undertaken by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the group said: “40% of Nigerian households live in poverty, living on household income of less than N137,000 per annum; which is barely an average of N11,000 per month and N366 per day.

“Converted to USD at a constant exchange rate of N400 per USD, this respectively amounts to $342.50 per annum; $28.54 per month; and $0.95 per household per day.”

Addressing the president’s comparison made between the pump price of fuel in Nigeria and some other countries, ASCAB said Buhari failed to consider the minimum wage in those countries when compared to Nigeria.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the minimum wage in these countries compared with Nigeria is as follows: Saudi Arabia – $7,585 per annum; Egypt – $2,088 per annum; Ghana – $689 per annum; Niger – $1,367 per annum; Chad – $2,088 per annum; and Nigeria – $1,543,” the group said.

“Across the six countries, only Egypt does not have a nationally mandated minimum wage, meaning the minimum wage only applies in the public sector.

“For Saudi Arabia, the GNP is $137,635; for Egypt, the GNP is $82,710; for Nigeria, the GNP is $65,707; for Ghana, the GNP is $7,137; for Niger, the GNP is $1,706; and for Chad, the GNP is $1,208.

“Similarly, the comparative poverty rates (measured as living under less than 1$ a day) for the referenced countries are Saudi Arabia – 12.7% (the 10th lowest in the world); Egypt – 32.5%; Ghana – 23.4%; Niger – 41.4%; Chad – 46.7%; and Nigeria – 40.1%.”

On health, ASCAB said: “If we compare health and social services between Nigeria and Saudi Arabia, again we are faced with the same sharp contrast with respect to the sense of and commitment to the social responsibility of a government.”

Touching on infrastructural development, the group challenged Buhari’s administration to recover at least N95 trillion “which has either been diverted or withheld from the federation account by federal government owned enterprises and international oil companies”, instead of taking more external loans.

ASCAB said it can be seen that the president’s attempt to paint a “rosy picture” of a government that cares for the people “pales into insignificance” when compared with the countries referenced by Buhari.

“The fact, separated from the myth is that this government has no business imposing more hardships on Nigerians, and the fact that they did this on the eve of the 60th independence anniversary is a measure of the level of disdain they have for us and shows just how uncaring they are about our needs,” the group added.