Nigerian government hands out cash to battle extreme poverty

The Nigerian government has just launched a collateral-free loan scheme which will see two million petty traders receive $28 repayable in six months.

It’s the latest social intervention program under Nigeria’s president Muhammadu Buhari. The government also offers free meals in public primary schools and plans to distribute $300 million in looted funds recovered from Swiss authorities to its poorest people. Around 300,000 households in 19 of Nigeria’s 36 states are expected to receive $14 per month.


There’s one simple reason Nigeria is doubling down on cash transfers to its poorest people: 86.9 million Nigerians—nearly 50% of its estimated 180 million population—live in extreme poverty.

So, does handing out cash to poor people actually work?

Yes, according to data.

A 2016 study by Overseas Development Institute (ODI) showed links between cash transfers and an improvement in school attendance, use of health services and dietary diversity in households that receive them. As Quartz has reported, when given to women, cash transfers have a positive impact on reducing domestic and sexual violence in poor households as well as reducing the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.

Research has also dispelled the notion that poor people could abuse cash transfers with non-essential purchases. Several countries are wise to the potential of cash transfers as a development policy. Around a billion people currently receive cash transfers across 130 countries, according to the World Bank (pdf) with most of the transfers coming from governments.

But there’s a catch.

Studies also show that while giving money to poor people outright can have a positive impact on reducing poverty, the effects don’t last after the cash transfers stop. For many recipients, the cash transfers are essentially a means to better living on a day-to-day basis rather than a permanent transformative fix. The short-lived effects clearly give governments a hint: cash transfers are not substitutes for good governance or delivering a better life to citizens in the long-term.


Ephemeral effects aside, local nuance means cash transfers in Nigeria will unlikely be straightforward business. For starters, Africa’s largest economy notoriously lacks national records through which it will properly identify its poorest people. More so, with the poorest people likely unbanked, it’s unclear how the cash will reach them in a manner that’s transparent. In a country where corruption is rampant, that’s a red flag.

And then there’s the question of timing. With general elections due early next year, some will regard the interventions as a play for votes. There is already ample reason to be cynical. Recent state level elections have been marred by brazen vote-buying by agents of major political parties.

Cheta Nwanze, researcher with SBM Intelligence, a Lagos-based intelligence consulting firm, says the loan scheme “will likely end up as a largesse which will not make a dent” and for which “return rates will be very poor.” Recent history backs up some of that sentiment. After launching a $126 million loan scheme for farmers in 2015, the government has struggled to recover the loans. As of December 2017, less than 50 of the 5,540 rice and wheat farmers who received loans had repaid them.

Quartz

Single women struggle to rent homes in Nigeria

Many landlords in Nigeria suspect single women of being prostitutes, making it difficult for them to rent apartments.

A successful career woman, Olufunmilola Ogungbile, 30, never thought that she would be sleeping on a friend's couch after five months of apartment-hunting in Abeokuta city in south-western Nigeria.

She had moved from Lagos after securing a good job with the Ogun state government as a project administrator. Despite being financially independent, she struggled to find an apartment in middle and upmarket areas because she was single.

"The first question the landlord would ask me is if I'm married?" Ms Ogungbile said, "I'd say 'No', and they'd follow with, 'Why not'?"

She was often left puzzled.

"What does my marital status have to do with me getting a place to live in?"

'We want decent people'

Ms Ogungbile said the discrimination was widespread.

"Ninety-nine per cent of the landlords I met did not want to rent to me because I am a single woman," she told the BBC.

"Most landlords and agents would tell me, 'Can you bring your boyfriend or your husband?' In these kinds of apartments, we don't like boys coming in. We just want decent people."

Ms Ogungbile believes the hurdles she faced are down to cultural expectations - marriage is a benchmark used to measure decency.

"In this part of the world, if you are not married then you are a prostitute," she added.

Sylvia Oyinda - a product manager in the retail sector in Lagos, Nigeria's throbbing metropolis - agrees that the stigma makes it difficult for single women to rent in Nigeria.

Ms Oyinda, 31, was engaged when she started looking for an apartment. Landlords refused to meet her without her fiancé.

"There is a saying 'small girl, big god' that describes young single women who rent alone or squat with other females.

"The saying refers to single women who have sponsors, typically older men, who pay their rent," she said.

'Men have more money'

Ms Oyinda believes landlords assume most young single women are like this.

"The three landlords I met all refused to show me their apartments. They would tell me, 'Don't bother.'"

Out of frustration she stopped scouting on her own. On the fourth attempt, she went with her partner, to whom she is now married, and was taken seriously. The couple eventually settled for a four-bedroom flat in the high-end area of Lekki.

Coleman Nwafor, a landlord and property owner, said he does not discriminate, but most of his tenants and buyers are men because they have more money.

"Most single ladies are under the responsibility of their parents or a lover. You can never tell what will happen after the first year. And every landlord wants a tenant who will pay without stress and renew their contract once it expires," he told the BBC.

"Most single ladies are not working. There are more jobs for men than women in Nigeria. That is just the way it is."

'Landlords try to police women'

Yinka Oladiran, 25, who moved from New York to Lagos in May 2016 to pursue a career as a TV presenter, said she lived independently in the US and wanted to maintain her freedom in Nigeria.

She also wanted to reduce a three-hour commute to work from her father's home, but she could not rent an apartment without her father giving his consent to landlords.

"There were landlords who said they did not want to rent to me until they had spoken to my father to make sure that he was OK with it, even though I was paying with my own money," Ms Oladiran told the BBC.

"My opinion didn't matter. The landlords try to police women," she added.

After searching independently for more than six months, she finally got an apartment in April 2017.

However, she said she felt constantly undermined by security staff, especially when she came home late from work, as they often asked her who she was visiting.

"For that to even happen over and over again was very insulting," Ms Oladiran said.

As for Ms Ogungbile, her five-month hunt ended last week when she finally moved into a studio flat.

She said she secured it through a letting agency which focused on her income rather than her gender or marital status.

The 30-year-old, who is now excited about painting her new home in her favourite colours - purple and lilac - believes she fought back against discrimination in her own little way.

"Part of fighting the stigma was me refusing to bring a spouse or a partner because that was part of the criteria before they would hand me the keys," she said.

BBC

Video - Nigerian government seeks to address petrol theft

As it stands today, Nigeria does not know how much refined petrol it consumes. Government agencies have bandied different figures ranging from 30 M to 70 M liters per day but the country's Bureau of Statistics says the figures are best guesstimates. The net effect is that the country pays subsidies on refined petrol consumption it cannot really account for. The government is now moving to address the age long problem.

FIFA gives Nigeria ultimatum or face ban

Fifa has issued ultimatums to Nigeria and Ghana that they both face bans from global football for "undue influence" in the affairs of their governing bodies. 

Nigeria's ban could begin with immediate effect if the Nigeria Football Federation "offices are not handed back to the legitimate NFF executive committee under president Amaju Pinnick."

The issues in Nigeria come after a recent court case recognised Chris Giwa, who is currently serving five-year ban by Fifa, as the NFF president.

Giwa has been protesting the result of elections held in September 2014 that saw Pinnick installed as NFF president.

The NFF are due to hold polls on 20 September as Pinnick's four-year term is coming to an end.

The statement from Fifa added that any ban would not affect Nigeria's ongoing participation at the Women's Under-20 World Cup in France.

The Super Falconets are due to play Spain in the quarter-finals on Thursday.

A Ghana high court petition, brought by the attorney general to have the football association liquidated, must be withdrawn by the 27 August or a ban will be imposed.

The case came in the wake of widespread corruption allegations.

Football's world governing body says this "constitutes an undue influence in the affairs of the GFA in contravention of Fifa statutes."

The letter signed by Fifa secretary general Fatma Samoura added that "if the petition to start the liquidation process of the GFA is not withdrawn by Monday 27 August 2018 at 1100GMT the GFA will be suspended with immediate effect."

The petition came in the wake of a film by controversial Ghanaian journalist Anas Aremayaw Anas that showed African match officials and former GFA president Kwesi Nyantakyi accepting cash gifts.

A global ban would put Ghana's 2019 African Cup of Nations qualifier against Kenya on 8 September in doubt, Nigeria are due to travel to face Seychelles the same weekend.

Since the release of the film the Confederation of African Football has issued bans to many of the match officials shown on camera.

Nyantakyi resigned from his posts as GFA president and from the posts he held with Fifa and the Confederation of African Football (Caf). He denies any wrongdoing.

Fifa, suspended Nyantakyi for 90 days on 8 June but he has now left his role on the Fifa Council.

Caf has also announced that it will hold a vote at an Extraordinary Congress on "30 September 2018 in Egypt to fill the Caf 1st Vice-President function and the vacancy on the Fifa Council."

BBC

Video - Nigeria displaced return to ruin homes, fear violence

Thousands of people displaced by the armed group Boko Haram in northeastern Nigeria are returning home despite reports of new attacks. More than 30,000 left the relative safety of camps in Maiduguri to start rebuilding their lives. Although not all want to take the risk.