Subsidy: World Bank initiative engages stakeholders on access to palliatives

The Partnership for Amplifying Voices (PAV), an initiative with support from the World Bank has charged various stakeholders to monitor the subsidy savings and spendings to promote transparency and accountability at sub national level.

This was one of the resolutions and recommendations arrived at after a two-day tow hall meeting organised by PAV in Kano with the theme “How citizens can best benefit from government policies, fuel subsidy, electricity social interventions” sequel to a public policy dialogue on subsidy removal.

The meeting, which brought together civil society organizations, media practitioners, traditional institutions, vulnerable groups, women groups, person with disabilities, youth groups, trade unions, private sector and civil society across 19 Northern States, also recommended among others for the suspension of electricity tariff hike pending when the citizens would exit the hardship of fuel subsidy removal.

One of the conveners of the PAV, Hamzat Lawal, the CEO of Connected Development, said the initiative believe that if the government would make conscious efforts in closing all the loopholes in the oil and gas as well as the electricity sector, and also ensure security of lives, several people will not be needing any form of palliatives.

On the resolution for states to generate their own list of beneficiaries for palliatives, Lawal said it was more important for the existing national social register to be strengthened rather than building another register in states where “politicians and cronies will put in their supporters.”

“The governors were in a rush to condemn this national social register and I hope they will backtrack and look at what we currently have; let’s look at what are the gaps, opportunities and let’s strengthen it and let us have a robust national social register so that whenever we want any form of support to get to low income households, we have something that we are proud of that belongs to the federal government,” he added.

The meeting thereafter recommended among others that the federal government should channel the funds removed from subsidy into providing some interventions in Agriculture, minimum wage, healthcare, education etc. and subsidize production not consumption.

It also recommended that policies to improve the living conditions of the citizens should be adhered to at all levels including identifying and providing supports to Women and girls to becoming entrepreneurs rather than providing stipends to make subsistence living.