PRESS STATEMENT: ENHANCING SOCIAL PROTECTION DURING A PANDEMIC
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Palliatives are critical to cushion the impact of the current pandemic. The Federal Government, state governments, private and religious organisations as well as many others have made significant and highly commendable contributions in cash and in kind towards meeting the needs of many Nigerians impacted by the economic slowdown. The efforts so far are truly commendable and inspiring. God bless Nigeria!!!
In previous press statements Election Monitor has made recommendations relating to ensuring that palliatives’ are effective and achieve government’s objectives as much as possible. It is precarious in a time when many people are earning less (if anything at all in some cases) if implementation of social protection is seen as unfair, opaque or selective. While the best efforts may be made it is important to not only be equitable but to be seen as being equitable.
The following recommendations are made to proffer ways to help increase the efficacy and effectiveness of government’s intervention for citizens (especially the poor) during this period.
Election Monitor believes that palliatives need to be of a scale that they will have a significant impact on the citizenry; be sufficient for beneficiaries to live on with the most basic of needs; sustainable for the duration of this period.
Election Monitor subscribes to the free market model primarily for disbursing funds provided for social protection (government allocations primarily). That is simply giving the beneficiaries the money directly and letting them make their purchases themselves. This is important for many reasons:
It allows the citizens purchase what they like which is important. For example some people want rice, others yam and yet others wheat for example.
It ensures that there are no cost differentials in the amount used to purchase foodstuffs and other items from the value of the actual amount of goods distributed to beneficiaries. This is important because inefficiencies, profit for contractors and corruption could all come into play to reduce governments intended impact.
It allows citizens purchase from where they like. While a set of yams may go for a certain amount a citizen may have access to a yam farmer where he or she can get the yam tubers at a much cheaper price. This is why giving the beneficiaries funds to access the open market is very beneficial.
Government needs to determine the most effective method for reaching a significant number of beneficiaries. It is clear that Nigeria has tens of millions of poor people and for this reason it is not realistic to expect that every single poor person will receive palliatives. However if the scale is sufficient and markets are open with people allowed free access then this intervention could turn out to be very successful. Clearly any cash disbursements should leverage technology. This is because it enables a digital footprint, ensures accountability and reduces the likelihood of double or multiple payments to any single beneficiary. However some issues arise here:
What sort of technology? Government can consider using bank accounts for some beneficiaries because of the uniqueness of the Bank Verification Number (BVN). Certainly no one should disclose his or her BVN to anyone for any reason because of security concerns. However when payments are paid through bank accounts it is possible to audit and determine if there have been double or excess payments which can be easily flagged. However there is the question of the unbanked poor. There are two issues here.
The first is that an account can be opened for them once they are identified. This can be easily done in partnership with banks and microfinance institutions which can access any location. This is important because social protection has to be sustainable. If the only way to reach an existing beneficiary is physical, then there are increased costs for accessing this beneficiary every time government wants to offer them any financial support (if payments are to be made monthly for a few months for example).
There are millions of poor Nigerians who have savings accounts who would qualify for the government’s intervention. Since government cannot provide palliatives for all the poor at once, there is nothing wrong with starting with the poor who have bank accounts.
Government may consider using mobile money. Mobile money facilitated by telecommunications companies and financial institutions would ensure a large number of beneficiaries are reached. Telecommunications companies could provide government with the details of active subscribers who use below an agreed threshold of phone credit per month. However it is important unique beneficiaries are identified since some subscribers have more than one phone line. Someone may have two mobile phone lines and load one consistently while not loading another line so regularly. In this case the phone line used less which may be primarily for receiving calls maybe selected for intervention funds while the owner of the line may not really require it. In addition many people have the same names even though they are different people. Some people register one phone line with one variation of their name and another phone line with another variation of their name. The key with this method is to ensure the right people receive the funds and also that double payments are not made. Also telecommunication companies should drop or significantly reduce mobile money charges for these specific interventions (this also applies to the banks).
Food distribution. While Election Monitor believes that government funds should be distributed to the beneficiaries using the free market model there are some situations where government can and should facilitate the distribution of food items and other basic living items to the poor. For example the Federal Government recently approved the distribution of 70,000 metric tons of grain for citizens across the country. In addition 150 trucks of quality rice have also been released by the Federal Customs Service to help people in need. Many private companies and individuals have also donated money and have been doing their own bit to distribute food items to the poor. However, because these efforts are not centrally coordinated there is a risk that some people get more support than others while others get none at all. The following are recommendations for ensuring effective coordination for food distribution to people in need nationwide.
Choose a date (preferably a single day) for national distribution of food and other items’ palliatives. This day must be sufficient for effective preparations and soon enough to meet peoples current and dire needs. This day could be a Saturday or if during the week, a public holiday for the day declared (could be tagged, National Day of Social Support or Intervention etc). This may be done only once during this period.
Determine an effective distribution mechanism that is transparent and equitable. Election Monitor recommends using INEC polling units or Registration Areas (Wards). This is because they are located in 119,973 locations nationwide and are largely known by citizens. Registration Areas and Wards could also be used as these are just in 8,809 locations and will be more manageable.
Government will need to determine how many bags of 25kg grains can be distributed nationwide. Since 70,000 metric tons have been approved this is the equivalent of 70 million kilograms of grain or 2.8 million 25kg bags of grain. With 119,973 polling units this would come to about 23 bags per polling unit nationwide. If registration areas are used this would result in averagely 317 bags per Ward. 150 trucks of rice with an estimate of 600 bags per truck (for example) leads to approximately 90,000 bags (it could be more or less depending on the size of the trucks). This would not be enough for one per polling unit but would average out at about 10 bags per Registration Area (these bags are usually 50kg). If these bags are divided into two for example and added to the grains from the strategic reserve this gives about 337 bags of grain and rice of 25 kg provided at each Ward.
The state governments should also make contributions towards these efforts by liaising with companies in their states to provide food items as much as is possible which will be taken to the Registration Areas or polling units for distribution to citizens.
The Federal Government can also appeal to the private sector, international donors, religious organisations etc to make significant in-kind contributions directly to the Registration Areas or polling units (of course documented at the states) where the goods will be distributed. This eliminates cash transactions.
Government should make public announcement about how interested companies and individuals can make their donations. Wealthy individuals in the registration areas can bring what they can afford as well. No amount is too small. If a citizen brings two yams and a 10kg bag of rice to give to someone less fortunate than himself/herself, the person should be permitted to do so. Each Registration Area can be opened three days before the National Day of Social Support with representatives from INEC, the state government, security agencies, local traditional leaders and citizen representatives on ground to receive items at each Ward. All items received must be comprehensively documented. Registration Areas used must be conducive to keep food items (schools in most cases which are currently not in operation). Citizens in the communities could also help by ensuring that goods are secured in partnership with the officials in charge of the distribution.
The night before the distribution all the goods and foodstuffs should be placed neatly in columns on the field or in classrooms to enable citizens’ easy access to the items and to encourage social distancing.
Government should also announce that on that day, only citizens who really need support should come out to collect foodstuffs. It is important that citizens bring their permanent voters cards (PVC) to ensure that someone doesn’t get food stuffs in one ward or polling unit and then migrates to another and do the same thing. In this case, Smart Card Readers may become necessary to authenticate that the citizen is validly registered in that polling unit or registration area. The key here is PVC authentication and not so much finger print verification (so as to help as many people as possible).
Citizens should be told to come by a specific range of time (for example 8am to 11am). Once it is 11am the distribution officers (DO) with the aid of their assistants DO2 or DO3 will count the number of people on the line. The items will be shared based on this number of people. For those coming after this time it may be difficult to handle to prevent disorganization. Therefore great effort should be made in sensitization that those coming after 11am will not be attended to (word of mouth, text messages, fliers, handbills, posters, social media, radio television etc).
Transparency is critical. It is important that this whole process is extremely transparent. The total number of items obtained and distributed should be documented at the registration area or polling unit. This information should be sent to the state where items distributed per state are collated and subsequently that for the entire nation as well. A document can be produced showing the distributions nationwide at some later date.
Government may also consider leveraging NYSC members as well as willing volunteers in the communities to act as Distribution Officials or Assistant Distribution Officials. This process must not be hijacked by local politicians and influential persons in the localities, therefore there needs to be a clear organizational structure (FG official (SIP), INEC official, security agents, state government officials etc). Each centre must be well secured but security agents need to be professional and friendly.
It is important that the Federal Government provide the same quantity of palliatives to each Registration Area or Polling Unit across the country. This is the base provision. However state governments may mobilise as much food stuffs as they can. Private companies and individuals will not bring the same amount in every state. All these other sources cannot bring the same quantity and this will definitely vary from state to state. But efforts must be made to ensure that whatever the states generate is distributed evenly across all the Registration Areas or Polling Units in the states (in addition to the FG’s base provision).
It is important for INEC to accredit observer groups (who have observed at least once before and have submitted reports to INEC) that will submit independent reports on the distribution of these items nationwide. Each accredited observer group should receive some support to facilitate this very important work of independent monitoring which can be facilitated by willing donor organsiations. Every accredited group should get the same amount of support and be apportioned an equal number of registration areas or polling units they are expected to observe. This should also be done to ensure that at least each Registration Area or polling unit has at least 3 observers (from different groups) each nationwide. The observation will commence from the three days prior to the National Day of Social Support and end once the final state tally of items received and distributed has been determined and publicized.
The media should also ensure that the distribution exercise is well publicised.
The key is for Government to provide palliatives transparently to as many people as feasible who can benefit during this unique period. It is important to state that these recommendations are made purely in relation to palliatives for the current pandemic (which are temporary, unique and urgent) and not government’s existing social intervention programmes. Certainly social distancing will be required for officials and beneficiaries alike while officials will all be required to wear gloves and face masks while in the distribution centre (beneficiaries may also be required to do this if it is feasible). Registration Areas (probably better suited than polling units) will need to be disinfected before foodstuffs are brought in as well. One additional advantage of this process is that if well managed, it will increase the trust of the citizens in the Government and encourage unity and togetherness across the country.
Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria!
Nigeria shall prevail!
God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria!
Signed
Abiodun Ajijola
National Coordinator
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