I don’t want to be remembered for my many fights — Obaseki

By John Shiklam in Kaduna

Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State has described the proposed cash transfer policy of the federal government as a scam.

Sani stated this at the weekend while speaking on ARISE NEWS Channel’s News Night programme.

The governor said: “My position has always been that, at this critical time, cash transfer should not be something that we should bring up, completely. I think that cash transfer for me, in my opinion, is a scam. Completely, it is a scam. I can be very certain about that, because who are you transferring the money to?

“Let me give an example; go and check the current statistics. Like I said, as the Chairman, Committee on Banking for four years in Nigeria, I oversee the Central Bank, I oversight all the commercial sectors of our economy for the last four years and I look at the statistics, I will be very firm on this issue and you can go and check it,” he explained.

The governor, however, noted that the government should first ensure that the financially excluded individuals especially in the North-west are taken care of and brought into the financial system before implementing the cash transfer programme.

“About 70 to 75 per cent of the rural population in the North-west are financially excluded completely. You will have to go and check; these people we are talking about are important people in society. They do not even have a bank account so who are you transferring the money to?

“Let’s try and work very hard to make sure that they are financially included; that is the most important thing and I will like to call on our development partners – the World Bank – to put more money towards bringing more people into the financial services and the vulnerable in particular.

“Let us put more money in to ensure that we open accounts for them, get them involved; if we don’t do that, no matter what we do, however you do it, money will go to the wrong people, that’s the fact.”

President Bola Tinubu had earlier unveiled his administration’s plan for a monthly N8,000 transfer to 12 million of the poorest households in the country for six months, in a bid to cushion the effects of the removal of fuel subsidy.

But days after the announcement, the federal government said it would review the move following the public outcry it generated among Nigerians.

Recall that following the removal of the petrol subsidy and the recent hike in petrol prices to up to N617  per litre, the National Executive Council (NEC) agreed on palliative measures for Nigerians.

NEC also considered integrity tests on state social registers as cash transfers would be done via state social registers subject to state peculiarities.

The federal government also initiated a six-month cash award policy for public servants.