Buhari Disparages Statistics by Foreign Agencies, NGOs
…Says Claims Are Wild, Unreliable, Far Cry from Reality President Muhammadu Buhari has accused the international agencies and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working in the theatre of...
…Says Claims Are Wild, Unreliable, Far Cry from Reality
President Muhammadu Buhari has accused the international agencies and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working in the theatre of operations in the North East of scamming Nigeria and their donors, as their impact in addressing the humanitarian problems in the region seem to fly in the face of the millions of dollars claimed to have been spent.
Speaking at the maiden meeting with members of the Economic Advisory Council (EAC), headed by Professor Doyin Salami., against recent claim by Oxfam International that 94 million Nigerians live below poverty line, the President also admonished members not to be taken in by statistics about the country from these organisations and other international finance agencies. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) also said both the N30,000 new minimum wage and the proposed hike in VAT by 2.5 per cent would worsen inflation in the country.
“Today, we hear international organisations claiming to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on IDPs in the North East. But when you visit the camps, you rarely see the impact”, Buhari said.
Explaining further, he said: “In 2017, when the National Emergency Management Agency took over the feeding of some IDPs in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, the amount we spent was significantly lower than the claims made by these international organisations”.
It was not the first time Nigerian authorities will slam the activities of the international NGOs. The Military authorities have often decried their activities, being inimical to the efforts to end the insurgency plaguing the region.
Just recently, the military shutdown the offices of the Action Against Hunger in Borno and Yobe, accusing them of aiding and abetting the terrorists. Not long after, Mercy Corps, another foreign NGO also shut their shops.
President Buhari not only pinpointed the gross mismatch between the money spent by the NGOs and the actual impact, he appeared to have decided to move on and cater for the victims of the insurgency without their aid.
The President said he has directed the new Minister for Humanitarian Affairs “to commence a comprehensive data-gathering exercise in our IDP camps in the North East.”
To the EAC, Buhari also suggested the collation of home-grown data, not the unrealistic ones handed over by the World Bank and the IMF.
“Therefore, actionable data is critical to implement effective strategies to address pressing problems such as these humanitarian issues”, Buhari said, imploring EAC members to develop a baseline study and focus on primary data collection.
“Today, most of the statistics quoted about Nigeria are developed abroad by the World Bank, IMF and other foreign bodies. Some of the statistics we get relating to Nigeria are wild estimates and bear little relation to the facts on the ground.
“This is disturbing as it implies, we are not fully aware of what is happening in our own country.
“We can only plan realistically when we have reliable data. As you are aware, as a government, we prioritised agriculture as a critical sector to create jobs and bring prosperity to our rural communities`’, he said.
“Our programs covered the entire agricultural value chain from seed to fertiliser to grains and ultimately, our dishes. As you travel in some rural communities, you can clearly see the impact. However, the absence of reliable data is hindering our ability to upgrade these programs and assure their sustainability”, Buhari said.
Oxfam International says no fewer than 94,470,535 million people in Nigeria live below extreme poverty line, according to the latest World Poverty Clock.
Its Country Director in Nigeria, Mr Constant Tchona, said this on Monday in Abuja at the organisation’s Programme Quality Review and Planning meeting with the theme “On the Road To Becoming an Influencing Hub”.
Tchona decried that this number of people live below the benchmark of N684 per day.
“The number of people that live below extreme poverty level as at April was 91,501,377, making Nigeria the World Capital of Poverty.
“As if that was not bad enough, at the moment, six months later, the number has jumped up to 94,470,535 people.
“What this means is that we have added 2,969,158 people more into extreme poverty.
“By comparison, this number is more than the population of Gambia and Cape Verde combined.
“At the current rate, Nigeria is not only off track to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) but many now believe that up to 25 per cent of the world’s extreme poor will live in Nigeria by 2030.
“Nigeria’s total population is 200,963,599 people according to the Worldometer and is to become the world’s third largest country by 2050,” he noted.
While describing the burden as pathetic, the country director noted that Nigerian government was aware of the rate of poverty in the land.
Tchona quoted President Buhari’s intention to “lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty over the next 10 years and set them on the path to prosperity’’ to “fundamentally shift Nigeria’s trajectory and place it among the World’s Great Nations’’.
According to him, if this is achieved, Nigeria will shock the world to achieve the SDGs.
“Now the question is what is the role of the citizens and how that role will be played in supporting both elected and appointed officials in achieving this lofty goal.
“What could be the role of International NGOs like Oxfam on that journey?” he asked.
He noted that in order to effectively make impact in poverty reduction, the organisation would have to reminisce on its programmes to ensure they were not against Oxfam well established quality standard.
He stressed the need to expedite actions, adding that more people are getting into extreme poverty as at the moment.
Tchona explained that the meeting was to reflect on what that role of the organisation in support for government and citizens could be in order to reduce the burden of poverty.
He said that the meeting was also to explore ways to strengthen business support to power up Oxfam execution capability while ensuring operational excellence.
Nigeria’s government may drive up inflation when it increases a sales tax to partly finance its record 2020 budget and implements a new minimum wage, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned according to a Reuters report.
The country, Africa’s top oil producer and the continent’s largest economy, is faced with the choice of boosting growth in the face of lower oil revenues or fixing its dilapidated road and rail networks, while paying off debts and funding the higher minimum wage.
President Buhari on Tuesday presented a record 10.33 trillion-naira ($33.8 billion) budget for 2020 to lawmakers as he aimed to spur growth at the start of his second term in office.
The spending plan includes a value-added tax increase from 5% to 7.5% and a minimum monthly wage increase to 30,000 naira ($98) from 18,000 to implement a change that was signed into law in April.
“Inflation will likely pick up in 2020 following rising minimum wages and a higher VAT rate, despite a tight monetary policy,” the IMF said in a statement late on Tuesday. “The outlook under current policies remains challenging.”
Inflation, which has fallen steadily since May, dropped to a 3-1/2 year low in August on lower food prices, increasing the chances of an interest rate cut. However, the Central Bank has kept rates tight to support the naira.
The price index peaked at 18.7 percent in January last year, and has been in double digits for three years, outside a Central Bank’s target of 6-9%. The bank has said it would maintain its tight stance in 2019, and sees inflation at 11.31 percent, rising to 12 percent this year before moderating.
The budget unveiled on Tuesday tops the previous record spending plan, which was the 9.12 trillion-naira budget for 2018.
Buhari’s government has repeatedly rolled out record spending plans but struggled to fund them due to lower oil output and an inability to boost non-oil exports. This has kept the government dependent on expensive borrowing, the IMF said.
“Over-optimistic revenue projections have led to higher financing needs than initially envisaged, resulting in over-reliance on the expensive borrowing from the Central Bank to finance the deficit,” the Fund said.
The IMF said Nigeria’s economy was recovering, albeit slowly after a 2016 recession, with its dollar buffers declining due to rising capital flight. It said bigger deficits make monetary policy complex owing to the government’s reliance on Central Bank for funding.
Economic growth slowed to 1.94% in the three months to the end of June, the second quarter in a row to see deceleration. The Fund said growth could pick up this year to 2.3% on the back of a good harvest and as the oil sector recovery continues.
President Buhari on Thursday hosted members of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC) at State House, Abuja, promising to beam the searchlight on cost of governance, and weed out possible corruption that exists anywhere.
The President appreciated members of the committee for the “major sacrifice “they’ve made in accepting the assignment to serve the country,” noting, “Some of the elite won’t trust you, and you will be alienated, no matter how close you are to them.”
Recalling experience of the past, in which assets were seized from officials who couldn’t explain how they got them, “only for those assets to be returned to them when government was changed,” President Buhari vowed that such would not recur, as he had given instructions that all forfeited assets be sold, “and the money put in the Treasury Single Account.”
“Let’s see who will now take back the money from the treasury, and give back to those people, as was done in the past,” the President added.
The Chairman of PACAC, Prof Itse Sagay, who led the delegation, said Nigeria was lucky more than ever to have a person of President Buhari’s credentials as leader of government.
“We congratulate you for being a star of the anti-corruption struggle in Africa. You attach a lot of importance to the fight against corruption, and we have tried to achieve the aims you had in mind when you established PACAC,” Mr Sagay, a professor of Law, added.
He said the committee trains, builds capacity of anti-corruption agencies, and has helped to develop a programme of non-conviction assets recovery, which is recording great successes.
PACAC made some recommendations to the President in order to move the anti-corruption war many steps forward.
They include the reestablishment of the jury system for criminal cases in the country; setting up of a Judicial Commission on Corruption in the Judiciary, to be headed by retired judges under the auspices of National Judicial Council (NJC); passage of Proceeds of Crime Act by the National Assembly; the setting up of a Presidential Truth and Restitution Task Force; and a closer look at the cost of governance to weed out all vestiges of corruption.
President Buhari pledged that his government would take a dispassionate look into all the requests, a statement by Mr Femi Adesina, special adviser to the President (Media and Publicity), said.
