Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has asked the federal government to disclose the full list of beneficiaries of the N330 billion reportedly disbursed to poor Nigerians under the cash transfer programme.
The call came yesterday amidst the government’s claims that millions of Nigerians have been lifted out of poverty through social safety net schemes managed by the National Social Safety-net Coordinating Office (NASSCO).
Speaking with LEADERSHIP Friday, NLC’s acting general secretary, Comrade Benson Upah, questioned the transparency of the cash transfer initiative, noting that government pronouncements must be backed by credible evidence.
Upah argued that for the sake of accountability, Nigerians deserve verifiable proof of the disbursements.
He further criticised what he described as “banditry with statistics,” accusing the government of announcing large-scale poverty alleviation figures without corresponding evidence.
“They should let them line up, in advanced economies, if you say you have created social jobs, you show the jobs. It’s not that you just go to the media and say you have created social jobs, they will check, so we want to see the beneficiaries.
“When you say you have lifted millions of people, where are they, where are the people you have given so much to, they should publish the recipients,” he said.
“So, if we have to copy, let us copy wisely and intelligently because for every activity, there is an audience and the Nigerian audience is not a stupid audience, it is highly enlightened, I tell you,” he said.
The NLC leader maintained that publishing the names of the recipients would help restore public confidence in the government’s anti-poverty drive, which many Nigerians believe has done little to cushion the impact of inflation and rising living costs.
