Primacy of Social Protection

Kayode Komolafe

kayode.komolafe@thisdaylive.com

0805 500 1974                      

Yesterday’s observances of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty are relevant to the economic management of Nigeria at this time. “Decent Work and Social Protection: Putting Dignity in Practice for All,” this year’s theme, is germane in many respects to  the agenda of the administration of President Bola Tinubu. The essence of  the theme, according to the United Nations, is “to promote understanding and dialogue between people living in poverty and the wider society.”

It was, therefore, fitting that the federal government elected to launch on the occasion its cash transfer programme. In the programme,  the most vulnerable 15 million households  will each  be given N25, 000 monthly each for a period of three months. The integrity of the social register to be used for the implementation is a critical factor for  the success  of the much-criticised programme.  

Significantly, the World Bank has pledged to support the programme. In recent times the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) have been advocating   greater social investments so as to strengthen the global economy. In what appears to be a change of tone from their positions some decades ago, the two institutions have been supporting social spending in education and health. The spending in these sectors is now regarded as wise investments in development terms.

This point is worth stressing because   the administration’s economic team seems enamoured of the prescriptions made  by the Bretton Woods institutions. 

To be sure, in  the light of Nigeria’s recent economic history social protection should not require a strenuous defence today because even in the heyday of the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP),  the social content of policy was not completely ignored in Nigeria.  And that was not only at the level of rhetoric. So, if you like, `even SAP advocates in Nigeria made more than a mere allusion to some social protection in the design and the articulation of the strategy. To do otherwise in this difficult socio-economic landscape in which  poor households operate would be dangerously insensitive. 

After all,  even the World Bank and IMF  institutions have now joined the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in paying a greater attention to social spending for the ultimate aim of achieving social protection. And social protection is achievable only with a mix of policies conceived to reduce poverty and bridge the gap of inequality. Hence, the World Bank is supporting the stopgaps contained in the Nigeria’s poverty reduction programmes. Increased allocations for health and education in the budget could be   a long-term antidote for the chronic malaise of poverty. The interventionist social investments are only  immediate and temporary dosages needed by some of the victims of poverty in the acute condition.   Their poverty condition is the worst. Hence, a time frame is often set for the implementation.

Yet, there is the urgent need to ponder the significance of the Conditional  Cash Transfer (CCT) programme.  Targeted at the most vulnerable in the society, the CCT could make a world of difference to the economy of a poor household, albeit temporarily, if honestly implemented. It is, perhaps, understandable while some relatively comfortable  members of the elite cannot fathom the social significance of the N25, 000 monthly for a poor household.

The point cannot be over-emphasised that the  CCT could only be  a marginal  element of a well-structured social protection package.

The policy of social protection needs proper articulation to convince its critics. And, maybe, the cynics too. A middle-class element, for whom the list of economic problems does not include lack of three square meals a day, can afford to dismiss the CCT as “a waste.” He may even begin to give us economic lectures on how the money could be better invested in some phantom productive sectors. There is, however, a reality that  is often ignored by the likes of the person in this  hypothetical case. He goes to his village only to be confronted by the pathetic story   of his 75-year old aunt without socio-economic support whatsoever from anywhere. The poor woman   has not eaten for two days before his arrival! For heaven’s sake, will this person reach for  his purse  to give this poor  aunt even N2,500 or will he give her economic lectures on some “efficient productive investments”? 

The truth which no one is proclaiming is that what Nigeria lacks is  only a systematised social security system. This is because virtually everyone of means is actually a one-man social security outfit. Most of the text messages some middle-class elements with incomes receive are pathetic stories of relations, friends and acquittances in need of some urgent financial support. A lot of the billions of dollars remitted by Nigerians in the Diaspora are actually meant to meet such needs that a well-established social security system should take care of ordinarily. An efficient  social security is central to the overall  achievement of social protection.   

In some  remote areas, the CCT may  be the first  experience of the people  feeling the impact of a government policy in such a direct manner. Some members of  the elite  contemptuously  call the transfers handouts. Yes, in some situations the handouts could indeed be life-saving for some of the recipients.

Models of implementation could be found  in Brazil, India, Mexico, Bangladesh , Argentina, other places. For instance, the World Bank-assisted programmes in Honduras has reportedly reduced the poverty gap by 27% for thousands of beneficiaries. Similarly, the population of underweight children who are under five has been reduced by 26%. With the equivalent of about   $225 dollars only transferred to each of the benefiting households in a year, access to basic education and healthcare was reported to have improved. The success of the Honduran experiment is such that a law has been made to back the policy of devoting 10% of a national trust fund to CCT.

That’s why those in charge of policies today may have one or two lessons to learn from the failures and successes of the last 40 years.

In particular,  lessons should be learnt from the implementation of the social investment programme of the administration  of former President Muhammadu  Buhari.

Besides, there should be a more inclusive deployment of technology to make the implementation more efficient. Special consideration should be given to those in the remote areas.

Above all, the implementation should be foolproof. The officials should be wary of those who may like to corrupt the process even at the lowest point of implementation. The integrity of the process is the greatest asset the programme could have in the circumstance.