By Nuel Suji – The Senator representing Kaduna north in the National Assembly, Shehu Sani has faulted the Social Intervention Programmes of President Muhammadu Buhari, describing it as handouts designed to buy the conscience and loyalty of voters.
Mr. Sani said it is not different from Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Program (SURE-P) of the Jonathan administration.
According to him, “SURE-P and NSIP are institutionalised state generosities and philanthropy presented as social intervention while actually intended to neutralise mass resistance against social injustice and inequality presided over by the political establishment and the ruling elites.”
The Buhari-led All Progressive Congress (APC) government is currently running a National Social Investment Programme (NSIP) to tackle unemployment.
Mr. Sani’s is coming on the heels an allegation raised by the Minority Leader of the Senate, Biodun Olujimi (PDP, Ekiti) Wednesday, where she accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) is using the social intervention programme for political gains.
According to Mr. Sani, SURE-P was designed to build the support base of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) while N-Power was designed to build that of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
“The ideological basis and reasoning of both the SURE-P and NSIP programmes is to reinforce the iniquities, inequalities and plunder inherent in the prevailing socioeconomic system that institutionalised the class privilege of a few against a many.
“The SURE-P programme was designed to build up the grassroots support base of the PDP and the N-Power was designed to build the grassroots support base of the APC.
“SURE-P and N-Power are all hands outs thrown to the poor ‘to purchase their conscience and loyalty. SURE-P was a larcenous bread of corruption and N-Power is a butter of social deceit. Nigeria’s poverty problems can’t be solved by a ration system of throwing peanuts.
“N-Power is a repackaged SURE-P programme that only encourages the culture of social dependency on state handouts,” he added.
