Let’s talk about the N70,000 six-month transport award

By Abdulkadir Salaudeen

It took me some time, racking my brain, before settling on the above topic. Should it be called transport palliative, grant, aid, gift, subsidy, charity, or award? As I noted in previous columns, the vocabulary of the Nigerian government under President Tinubu is becoming too difficult for me to understand. I regret not paying much attention to English grammar in my decades of studying government and politics. Anyway, I settled for transport award.

When I first heard about the N70,000 Six-Month Transportation Award for federal workers, I laughed. Then I reflected. Then I pitied this country. For indeed, by the announcement, the government knows it has inflicted pain on the people. So it comes through the backdoor with a palliative that insults our collective intelligence. This N70,000 transport award is one of such.

Let us be clear. The government would not be talking about any transport award if all was well. The government would not be “dashing” or doling out N70,000 to workers to help them come to work if its policies had not made coming to work almost impossible. What we are seeing is an open acknowledgement that there is severe hardship in the land. And that hardship was not imported. It was brewed right here in Abuja, by thoughtless, impoverishing policies that were announced with chest-beating but without thinking through.

Fuel subsidy was removed without a shock absorber. The naira was floated without protecting the naira. Electricity tariff was increased without increasing electricity. People are thoroughly taxed, with the plan of more taxes in the offing, without any tangible social good to show for it. Then the government turns around to promise N70,000 to those it reluctantly considers deserving Nigerias — federal workers — to transport themselves for a whole month to the same work it impoverished them to do. Is that not irony? Is that not like cutting off a man’s leg and then giving him a walking stick and asking him to clap for you?

The federal government says it is for federal workers. Good. At least, federal workers will get something. In a desert, even a drop of water is appreciated. For a federal civil servant who coughs out a large sum to get to the office, this N70,000 will assuage their pain, even if small. It will, to borrow the language of government itself, cushion the effect. Half bread, as our people say, is better than none.

But that is where the applause must end, and the questions must begin. First, what happens to those who are not federal workers? Are they not Nigerians? Are they not suffering the same hardship? What happens to teachers employed by the state government or those that earn N30,000 monthly, teaching in utterly exploitative private schools? What about the local government workers? What about workers in the private sector, the security guard in a private company who closes by 10 pm and has to pay double transport because of fuel price? What about the petty traders in our local markets who must move their goods from the farm to the market? What about the unemployed graduate who goes from one office to another looking for work?

Are they less Nigerian? Are they not affected by the same thoughtless policies? Or is hardship selective? If this hardship was caused by federal policies, and indeed it was, then its palliative should not be selective. If the government acknowledges that transport has become unbearable, then it has become unbearable for all Nigerians, not just those carrying federal ID cards. Compare Couriers

This is the danger of our palliative economy. We run an economy of palliatives. Instead of fixing the problem, we are sharing sachets. Some time ago, it was N5,000 conditional cash transfer. Yesterday, it was N35,000 wage award. Today, the talk is about N70,000 transport award. Tomorrow will probably be agbado and akara palliatives. We have become a government that governs with handouts rather than with planning. All of this scratches the surface. It does not address the wound. It is like using plaster to treat a fracture.

The government says it knows our pain. But instead of treating the cause of the pain, it is massaging the pain. Transport became expensive because fuel became expensive. Fuel became expensive because you removed subsidy without alternatives. So why not bring fuel price down? Why not fix the refineries? Why not make CNG buses truly available and affordable? Why not…? Why not…? And why not…? Because to a government that is not ready to govern, massaging the pain is easier than curing the disease.

Now we come to the most ridiculous part: Six-month transportation palliative! What happens after the six months? Does hardship expire after six months? Will fuel price return to N200 after six months? Will the naira become strong after six months? What is the economic projection that tells us that after six months, workers will no longer need transport support?

Or is this another campaign strategy like the 90-day economic plan that expires after the presidential election? This is how this government governs: by shifting the goalpost. Isn’t this a timeline that means nothing but political calculation dressed as economic intervention?

If your policy is good, it should not need a six-month painkiller. A good policy heals. A bad policy needs painkillers every day, with a resurgence of new pains. A six-month transport award is an admission by the government itself that T-pain is real.

And while we talk about this, where is the President? President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is already in Makkah performing Umrah. The President is in Makkah, allegedly praying and supplicating. And we, the people, are here in Nigeria, groaning under policies that do not turn things around.

Since his economic policies have refused to turn things around, maybe his prayers and supplications in the Haram will. Maybe what the economic team could not do, the spiritual supplication facing the Ka’abah will do. For truly, when the economist fails, the prayer warrior must take over.

If truly Tinubu has gone to pray for Nigeria, may I use this column to draw his attention to the fact that leadership is not only about praying for the people, it is about working for the people. You cannot impoverish the people at home and then go and pray for them abroad. Prayers work best when followed by good policy. The Prophet (SAW) taught us to tie our camel and then trust in Allah. This government untied our camel, set it free, and is now praying that it does not get lost.

So, let us talk about the N70,000 Six-Month Transportation Award. It is an acknowledgement of failure. It is discriminatory in its reach. It is insufficient in itself. It is deceptive in its duration. And it is political in its motive.

Yet, federal workers will collect it. Because in this hardship, even N70,000 is something. But collecting it does not mean they are fools. We know what it is. It is not a solution. It is a sedative.

May the Almighty ease the affairs of the poor masses. May He guide our leaders to feel the pulse of the people and do the needful.

Abdulkadir Salaudeen can be reached at salahuddeenabdulkadir@gmail.com