Recently, President Muhammadu Buhari approved the refund of about N78.9 billion to Rivers State, being the outstanding sum of funds expended over the years by the oil-rich state on rehabilitation of some deplorable federal roads within it. Four other states were also on the list of the refund beneficiaries.
Even though tabulation of the individual state accruals from the payback was based on historic cost of the projects rather than their current market value, one would still say that the President deserves ample commendation for living above the usual unnecessary politicking on issues like this.
But besides this and probably one or two other instances, it is now becoming increasingly evident that Rivers State often gets the short end of the stick in its relations with the authorities in Abuja.
Take, for example, the CBN’s Anchor Borrowers’Programme which has transformed many northern rice farmers from small holder peasant farmers to millionaires (going by their own admissions). And whereas the programme has also positively impacted farmers from elsewhere across Nigeria, it is yet to berth in Rivers State since its launch on November 17, 2015. Our farmers and fishermen are not even at the stage of filling forms preparatory to receiving such soft loans as is currently the case in some neighbouring states.
Instead, the CBN was quick to include Rivers State among six states and the FCT for a trial of the transaction limits component of its cashless policy effective September 18, 2019. Recall that a major part of this policy was the imposition of cash deposit and withdrawal charges on amounts in excess of N500,000 for individuals and N3 million for corporate bodies. It also prescribed charges on interbank ATM cash transactions, in addition to other existing financial service encumbrances.
The implication of this is that while residents of many states in the country, including the nouveau riche northern rice farmers, were making their normal cash dealings across banks unhindered, people in Rivers and the other pilot states were already being surcharged for engaging in similar bank transactions.
And, as if that was just the beginning, the present federal administration, in 2016, announced the commencement of a National Social Investment Programme (SIP) in which it sought to directly invest in the welfare of the extremely poor and most vulnerable citizens. Under this scheme, it floated the Conditional Cash Transfer Programme, National Home Grown School Feeding Strategic Plan 2016 – 2020, Tradermoni, Marketmoni, and Farmermoni.
Except the Tradermoni collateral-free loan which was suspected to have been used as a campaign tool in the 2019 General Elections and from which a few Rivers traders and artisans reportedly benefited, the state is among those that have been effectively crowded out of what is widely touted as the biggest social safety net in the economic history of Nigeria.
Just a few days ago, the government claimed that over 12 million households have, so far, benefited from SIP since 2016 and promised that the scheme would henceforth be expanded with N1 billion annually.
Honestly, if the Nigerian government has commenced disbursement of the N5,000 monthly cash transfer to any indigent individuals or households in Rivers State, then it has remained most discreet about such action because, to the best of my knowledge, there has not been any visible process on the ground to even identify eligible beneficiaries in the state.
The home grown school feeding system for which the central government reportedly spends over N750 million daily (including the COVID-19 schools’ shutdown period) on 8.2 million pupils in 45,394 public primary schools across 24 states is yet to take off here in Rivers. It, therefore, beats me as to why the authorities are reluctant to expand this initiative to accommodate Rivers and the other 11 states that have obviously been sidelined for so long. If the running cost is enormous by any measure, then schools should be selected in a rotational manner that benefits all the states eventually.
Again, and as the name suggests, here is a programme that has the capacity to encourage local food croppers, meat and poultry producers, market gardeners and fish farmers, among others. The employment potentials of these economic activities can hardly be overemphasized.
As for Marketmoni and Farmermoni, one can comfortably wager that not many Rivers residents know that such programmes exist in this country. These social intervention tools are said to be administered on behalf of government by the Bank of Industry, Bank of Agriculture and Nigeria Export-Import Bank.
Another government undertaking which would have earned Mr. President a lasting salute is the Ogoni Clean-Up exercise; at least, for kick-starting any meaningful activity at the project site after many years of government fudging. But HYPREP, the project handler, has consistently been accused of lacking in both capacity and zeal. In turn, the agency had always countered by describing such critics as possessing little or no knowledge of its core mandate and the technical nature of the job at hand.
One other area where Rivers State has expressed reservations against federal actions was in the handling of some issues in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic last year. The state government had expected that, being the hub of Nigeria’s oil and gas industry with large expatriate presence, Rivers State would have been considered in the disbursement of financial assistance to highly vulnerable areas like Lagos State and the FCT.
The bottom line is that the rest of Nigeria see Rivers State and its people as being economically comfortable at all time and mostly careless of any paltry disbursements from the centre. But this is not true. Rivers people deserve and desire to be included in all aspects of the SIP and such other national programmes.

By: Ibelema Jumbo