…we ‘ve no business with poverty- Falana
Actionaid Nigeria has charged the three tiers of government on the need to ensure transparency in the deployment of national resources.
Andrew said citizens should feel the impacts of the increased allocation of funds to the Federal, States and Local Governments.
Actionaid Nigeria boss who spoke at the weekend during a peaceful protest in Abuja, said there must be a corresponding transformation in the lives of over 100million Nigerians living in abject poverty.
He explained that with more money coming into the coffers of the government at all levels, lives of the citizens should be better off.
They therefore called on all authorities at all levels to ameliorate the suffering of the people.
He said: “Today as we commemorate the international day for the eradication of poverty we must reflect on our strategies, and suggest innovative ways to address the deep rooted causes of poverty which include lack of fiscal transparency mostly at the sub-National levels, illicit financial flows that bleed an average of $18billion annually from Nigeria making Nigeria the highest contributor to illicit financial flows in Africa.
“We would not discountenance the efforts that the Federal Government has said it made in reaching 8.1million households with N330billion, we are however concerned that citizens appear to be excluded from the process of disbursement of funds to beneficiaries in terms of monitoring the budgeting process, release of funds and disbursement.
“In 2018, ActionAid Nigeria and other Civil Society Organisations were deeply involved and could report appropriately how funds were disbursed to beneficiaries. The government should also give opportunity to civil society organisations and media to carry out social audits on the people and households reached.”
Other demands made include addressing gaps in the electoral process including independent appointment of the INEC Chairman.
Actionaid Nigeria also called for adequate funding of Anti-Corruption Agencies in Nigeria
“The government should ensure that open tendering or open bidding, adhered to by all government agencies, will enable a more competitive process where all qualified and interested suppliers submit bids.
“The Nigerian government must urgently convene a National Poverty Summit to harmonise fragmented policies into a single, binding National Action Plan for food security and poverty eradication.
“Strengthen social protection systems that provide sustainable support for families, ensuring that no Nigerian is left behind in the fight against hunger and poverty.”
On his part, Femi Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria who also addressed the protesters virtually said Nigerians have no business being hungry.
Today’s gathering carries a double significance. We are here to witness the formal launch of the Movement for the Transformation of Nigeria.
A coalition of courageous citizens determined to end the cycle of bad government and structural poverty that has claimed our country. We also commemorate the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. A day set aside globally to reaffirm the commitment of all nations and peoples to the dignity and welfare of the human person.
“The theme before us, “ending social and institutional maltreatment”, is not merely academic. It is a life or a new reality familiar to Nigeria. It compels us to confront the painful truth that our institutions are designed to serve the world, that our laws meant to protect are too frequently ignored, and that our society, rich in human and natural resources, continues to nurture poverty instead of prosperity.
“When we speak of social maltreatment, we refer to the denial of basic necessities, food, shelter, education, healthcare, and employment, which further end the majority of our people who live a life of needless suffering.”
When we speak of institutional maltreatment, we speak of the abuse, neglect, and inefficiency that have become endemic in the organs of state power, from the police station to the courts, from the ministries to our political sphere.
He explained that “Ending maltreatment, therefore, begins with reclaiming the idea that the Nigerian citizen is not a subject to be pitied, but a rights holder to be respected.
It demands that public institutions exist not as instruments of oppression, but as guarantors of dignity.”
He added that “Our democracy became one of elections without accountability, representation without a consulate, democracy without a government.
Falana noted: “The fight against bad treatment, therefore, is not a new demand, but a rather old moral obligation to insist that governance must serve humanity and that the institution must protect rather than punish.
“Now, history has taught us that no nation rises above the power factor of its institution. The challenge before us as we launch “Motion” is to ensure to clean mistakes of the past, that we turn our outcry into organisation, our protests into policy, and our hope into institutional transformation.
“And for us as citizens, we have a responsibility to hold the government accountable.”
The convener of the Motion (protest), Hawa Mustapha said Motion simply stands for Movement for the Transformation of Nigeria, saying enough is enough to suffering. We have no business being poor in a country of plenty.
“We have no business having 31 million Nigerians waking up without an idea of where the next meal is going to come from. We have no reason to have 11 million children on the streets of Nigeria not having food to eat, living with severe hunger. Whereas this is a country that is endowed with agricultural production.”
She explained that the idea of Motion is to say that, look, “Nigerians there are no Nigerians that are more Nigerians than the other. We all have a collective stake in this country called Nigeria. We have no other place to call home.
She stated the six demands of the protesters to include: An end to hunger. We want the government to convey, as a matter of emergency, the people of Nigeria to come together and discuss how to deal with this situation of poverty in the midst of plenty.
“Secondly, we are also demanding that poverty or hunger is also partly a result of the lack of employment. We are demanding that within the next two years, the government puts in place strategic and concrete policies that will engage and create at least three million jobs. We are also saying that, look, enough of corruption.
“We also want a situation where the government continues the school feeding programme to our children, particularly primary school. And indeed, expand the scope and the number of children that are benefiting from the school feeding programme.
“We also want the government to also address these things about the cash transfer should not be limited to 10 million people or 8 million people. Indeed, the 139 million people that are judged to be living in multidimensional poverty should immediately be enjoying certain social protection, including cash transfer, including access to education and access to basic health. So these are some of our demands and we are insisting that as Motion, as Nigerians, this is the beginning.
“We are not going to rest until this country that we call ours is truly ours in terms of the dignity of the people that live in this country. “
