Dele Sobowale: FG Is Fighting Poverty With Propaganda, Not Solutions

Public affairs commentator Dele Sobowale has criticized the Federal Government’s approach to tackling poverty, arguing that official statements and publicity campaigns have taken precedence over practical measures capable of improving the lives of ordinary Nigerians.

Economic policies should be assessed based on their impact on the welfare of citizens. Any economic policy that does not improve on the welfare of the people is inherently ineffective.” Emir of Kano, the attempt by the Federal Government’s propaganda machine to portray the dubious agenda as a success.

The FG has made some progress since 2023; but, overall, the impact on the lives of majority of Nigerians – mine included — has been undeniably devastating. The President and all his well-paid spokesmen cannot convince me that my family and I are better off today than in May 29, 2023,

The government’s falsehood, and that will be addressed shortly, fails because, even its spokesmen, from Ministers to the battalion of Special Advisers, all have hundreds of their own families who are caught in the increasing poverty trap which

Tinubunomics has unleashed on 99 per cent of Nigerians. The World Bank was actually being polite and generous by using the word “threatens” to describe an existential reality. Acute poverty already defines the lives of more than 90 per cent of Nigerians everywhere,

GOVT OF THE FEW BY THE FEW FOR THE FEW

That was the way Bentham conceived of a government elected by the citizens of any country. It will be extremely difficult for any right thinking government official, simply because they have been invited to “come and eat”, to dispute that assertion as a basis for assessing Tinubunomics. Certainly, none of them can argue that the greatest number of Nigerians are already living well below the poverty line; and now, the World Bank is predicting a worse scenario – despite the desperate attempt to deceive suffering Nigerians that all is well. It won’t work because “Love and business and family and religion and art and patriotism are nothing but shadows of words; when a man [or woman or child] is starving.” O Henry, 1862-1910. Far more millions of Nigerians are now starving than can possibly be rescued by “donations” of N50,000 to start akara or kulikuli business. Something more fundamental is required. But, before we address the latest attempt by the FG to eradicate multi-faceted poverty there is a need to ask a question which even most of our economists and activists have avoided because they already know the answer.

Who are the real beneficiaries of Tunubu’s reforms? Certainly, they are not the masses who voted him into office. Two frequent international reports published several times every year show the names of the world’s richest people and how their estimated wealth have increased or been reduced. The top ten Nigerians, names withheld, have on the average increased their average wealth, in dollars, by 80 per cent since Tinubu’s reforms started. Obviously, the reforms have primarily benefited the wealthy people at the expense of the masses of the people. Two examples would illustrate the point. Before Tinubu and the opening of the largest single chain refinery in Nigeria, petrol price never reached N600 per litre. Today, after reform and the refinery, the price averages N1,200 per litre – without any increase in workers pay. Nobody needs a doctorate degree in Economics to know who is gaining and who is losing.

One leading newspaper reported that Tinubu “launched the Nigeria Community Action for Resilience and Economic Stimulus Additional Financing programme, the Solutions for Internally Displaced and Home Communities programme and the Human Capital Opportunities for Prosperity and Equity programme at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.”

Tinubu missed what could have been the defining moment of his three years and six weeks in office by turning the announcement of the monumental and transformative social and economic programme over to a Minister.

This was his opportunity to, at least temporarily, silence his political opponents, social media hounds barking at him, as well as independent critics like me. Setting out to lift tens of millions out of poverty, given the current situation and projections, is a daunting task. But, it is not impossible.