Experts have knocked the federal government for repeatedly adopting the method of palliatives sharing whenever crisis erupted.
They stated this at an event in Abuja tagged: “Post Covid-19 Environment: Stories of Community Resilience and Solidarity,” organised by Oxlade Consulting and her partners.
LEADERSHIP reports that the federal government has initiated the process of giving out palliatives to Nigerians, from the period of COVID-19 outbreak to the current subsidy removal.
But at the event, experts opined that institutional framework should be adopted, noting that palliatives are temporary succour, not a permanent solution.
In his keynote address, Oluwaseun Onigbinde from Budgit said Nigeria has a palliative problem, stressing that the government’s methods of sharing palliatives in times of crisis are not the solution.
He emphasised the need for a structured social contract that was adopted by countries like the USA during the COVID-19 outbreak, while calling for transparency and accountability in the process.
Onigbinde advised that it should not just be about COVID-19 but that the government must provide an adequate framework to support the people.
“The social contract must be created. The government has a responsibility to the people and the people are the responsibility to the government.
“We need to build a social contract framework because the fact that people are resilient does not mean that the government should not carry out its responsibility. So, the first point I’m making is that we have a palliative problem and we need a social protection policy,” he said.
Also, Professor Adenike Emeke of the Institute of Education, University of Ibadan said palliative is good but it should not be the only thing to be done.
“Actually, we don’t even have a social register that we can really depend on so we need to also work around that to have a social register and try to see how people can fend for themselves.
“If you share palliatives, it is not the way forward but if you prepare people to be resilience, to think outside the box, to come out with ideas that can be useful to them and then they can come together and do things together, with that you can find out that there will be better result,” she added.
Quadri Olaitan is a journalist and contributor to Freelanews.com, covering news, public affairs, and human-interest stories.
