Gistfox Your News Window To The World.
Related Articles
As everybody knows, the President lacks two fundamental abilities to lead a modern national economy. He does not understand the basic principles of Economics and Public Finance. And, given his known educational deficiency, he might never understand them. So, he relies entirely on what his subordinates draft for him to read; as long as it makes him look good on paper.
That explains why he could pronounce to the global community on June 12, what would leave more enlightened Presidents worldwide shaking their heads in disbelief. To prove how fallacious Buhari’s statements were, I will start by taking the FG at their own words. They are not always truthful.
FG’s figures analysed
Globally, for over ten years, the benchmark for poverty has meant people living on less than two dollars ($2) a day. At N250/US$, that will mean N500 per day and N15,000 per month. Today, the official exchange rate is N410. So, any Nigerian living on less than N820 per day or N24,600 per month is living in poverty. Place those figures against the declaration that N10,000 per month is provided to a household comprising of five people. Each person receives N2,000 per month; or less the one-twelfth of the global minimum.
Do you now see why former President Trump asked his staff, after their meeting, “Is that the President of Nigeria?”
Buhari is being deceived by his subordinates and he does not realise it.
On May 29, 2015, in his inaugural address to Nigerians, the new President had unveiled a Social Investment Programme, SIP, designed to lift 5 million Nigerians out of poverty by paying each person N5,000 per month.
Readers can easily see that this government cannot be trusted. Between 2015 and June 12, 2021, N5,000 per month per person had been reduced to N2,000 per month. More to the point, was N5,000 enough to lift anybody out of poverty? Here are the figures again.
At N250/US$, N5000 fetches you only $20 a month or less than $1 per day. At now N500/US$ you get $10 per month or $0.3. Even a good Primary School pupil can easily see through the lie which the FGN – complete with PhD holders, Professors and SANs — is trying to foist on the world.
Surprisingly, this is not the first time that I will be correcting the Buhari administration on these fallacious utterances. It has been my observation that the more woefully a government fails, the more it depends on lies to justify its existence. Deliberate falsehood becomes first government policy.
National register of poor households
“We now have a National Register of poor and vulnerable households.” That was the categorical declaration by Buhari. I felt sorry for him when he made that statement. No President of any country should be placed in a situation in which he utters plain untruths.
Is there a register? The answer is “No”. I know because on several occasions, the Vice President and his Senior Special Advisers, Mrs Maryam Uwais (wife of ex-Chief Justice) and Dr Laolu Akande, who were in charge of the SIP, had been asked to produce it without success. I knew a long time ago that it does not exist. But, just in case you don’t believe me, here is evidence beyond reasonable doubt that the National Register of poor people is purely a figment of somebody’s imagination.
“The Federal Government on Wednesday, [June 16, 2021] said it was compiling a list of Nigerians lifted out of poverty.” News Report.
Four days after President Buhari had declared that “We now have a National Register”, the new National Coordinator of the National Investment Programme (the name keeps changing; but what’s in a name?), Umar Bindir, exposed the un-presidential lie. He went further to elaborate. “Every single individual, who has benefited from the NSIP, whether a child in the school to people who were attached to one form of work or the other (will be captured)…We will find them” Notice the word “will” – not we have found 10 million lifted out of poverty; as Buhari has been claiming.
Bindir, new to the job, and not yet inducted into the official lie syndicate, even had this absolutely truthful point to make. He said “you just don’t lift somebody out of poverty just because you have given him N30,000 monthly for six months or more.” That is a fact which the others – Vice President Osinbajo, Akande, Mrs Uwais etc – have hidden from Buhari. They have misled the poor man into believing that he was lifting people out of poverty with a mere N5,000 per month.
The world islistening
The global community is attentive every time the President of a major country in a region speaks. Despite our relative poverty, Nigeria is still the most important country in Africa. I know, from my friends in diplomatic circles, that copies of the June 12 address would have been circulated to various sections in every embassy in Nigeria. They would have read and analysed the section on poverty alleviation and the bogus claims made by Buhari.
They would have undertaken the conversion of his figures to dollars; and they would have been confronted with the falsehood. Every Head of Government around the world would have been advised not to believe that statement – for reasons already stated. The Nigerian President would have been on record as a person not to believe when he talks. It is not Buhari’s fault. But, who will tell him that his people are deceiving him?
Breaking news on poverty alleviation
“Buhari inaugurates committee to lift 100 million from poverty.”— News Report, June 23, 2021.
If everything written above has not convinced you that the President is confused, then consider this. Ten days after telling the whole world that he had lifted 10 million out of poverty in six years, Buhari finally inaugurates a committee to achieve his blurred vision.
Vice President Osinbajo was again appointed the Chairman of the bogus committee. If it took six years to lift unknown 10 million out of poverty – that is 1.6 million a year – how on earth will the Osinbajo committee achieve in two years what could not be done in six? At least, he had admitted that there are 100 million Nigerians living in poverty.
No previous Head of State in Nigerian history will have that depressing record attributed to him. Osinbajo is a part of the problem. He can never solve it; even if given a thousand years. Buhari is wasting his time and ours.
