Reading through an article by one Tola Olaiya titled ‘How not to run social security’ published in The Nigerian Tribune of January 31, 2014, I discovered that the author of the article deserves no abuse, but education as his/her article clearly demonstrates that he/she knows nothing about the Ekiti State social security scheme and as such would need to be educated.
Tola wrote: “The irony of it is that the amount budgeted for the Fayemi social security is not made public and the mode of selecting the beneficiaries remains a top secret just as the list of beneficiaries. Only few members of Governor Fayemi’s kitchen cabinet are involved in the modus operandi of this clandestine policy. The actual number of beneficiaries in the 16 local government areas and 177 wards in the aggrarian state tagged fountain of knowledge populated with about three million people is not known”.
It is pertinent to first educate the author of this piece on the meaning of social security.
Social security is defined as “Any government system that provides monetary assistance to people with an inadequate or no income, (2) (in the US) A federal insurance program that provides benefits to retired persons, the unemployed, and the disabled”.
When the Fayemi administration started its social security scheme, it was clear about the provisions of the Law (Senior Citizens Welfare Law) backing it – a law available on the internet which I believe the writer of this piece should have availed himself/herself of.
Section 3 of the Law talks about eligibility for the welfare assistance, hence subsections 2, 3, 4 state that “(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1) of this section, a person who is a beneficiary of a pension scheme for public officers of the Local Government, State, the Federal or any private scheme is not eligible to receive financial assistance under this Law. (3) For the purpose of this Law, a person is: (a) ‘indigent’ if that person’s verified monthly income is is less than N3, 000. (b) An indigene of Ekiti State if that person’s father or mother belongs by parentage to a immunity in Ekiti State”.
By these provisions, it is clear what the modalities for selection or eligibility are, hence the claim of secrecy about the selection process is as a result of the writer’s ignorance of the Law backing the scheme – ignorance which is no one’s fault as the Law is readily available on the Internet, especially on Slideshare. It is a fact that 20, 000 elderly citizens were the initial beneficiaries before another 5,000 were added last December. Multiply N5, 000 by 20,000, you would know what was being paid monthly before. Add another 5, 000 beneficiaries to that, it’s simple arithmetic.
In every part of the state, I know many beneficiaries who have nothing to do with Fayemi or the defunct ACN or APC. In fact, APC members in Ekiti State have several times and severally accused the governor of giving the stipend to more PDP members and I remember a female beneficiary in Ipoti during the budget tour who told some APC members that she remained a PDP member and would always be. Not a few canvassed then that her payment should be stopped. I told them plainly that the governor was clear about who and who should be the beneficiaries of this scheme. There was nowhere he mentioned ‘APC members only’. This is unlike the Sure-P programme in Ekiti State enjoyed solely by PDP members.
The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs states that “one out of every ten people on the planet is now 60 years of age or older. If the current trend of lowering birth rates and lowering death rates continues, by the year 2050 one out of five people will be aged 60 years or older and by 2150, one out of every three people will be aged 60 years or older. Additionally, the oldest old are the most rapidly expanding segment of the elderly population. Currently, the oldest old make up 11 percent of the 60+ age group and will grow to 19 percent by 2050″. What this means is that the elderly population is not as minute as many erroneously think and it seriously behoves any responsible government to plan for this sector of the human population. According to the United Nations statistics, the world population of older persons will total 2 billion by 2050.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban-ki Moon on the celebration of the International Day of Older Persons on October 1, 2010 revealed that “in sub-saharan Africa, 20 percent of rural women aged 60 and older are the sole supporters of their grandchildren. These caregivers, who take on added and often unexpected responsibilities, typically with little or none of the necessary resources, desperately need social services, especially social pensions, so that they and their families have a chance for life beyond mere survival.”
Ban-ki Moon stated further that the key interventions to addressing the needs of older persons are “granting universal access to social services; increasing the number and worth of pension plans; and creating laws and policies that prevent age and gender discrimination in the workplace. With five years left before the 2015 Millennium Development Goals deadline, it is time for Governments everywhere to institute financial, legal and social protections that will lift millions of older persons out of poverty and ensure their rights to dignified, productive and healthy lives”.
From the foregoing, it is obvious that the problem of taking care of the elderly is continent-wide, more reason the Fayemi administration should be commended for instituting it in Ekiti. For the sake of argument, even if the 25, 000 beneficiaries were solely APC members, are they not Ekiti people? Is Tola Olaiya insinuating that the APC in Ekiti State has up to 25, 000 elderly persons as members?
Tola Ajayi wrote in paragraph 3 of his/her article: “It is important to note that the much talked about social security programme of Dr. Fayemi is conceived and contrived to reward aged members and sympathisers of the APC or defunct Action Congress Of Nigeria (ACN), particularly the layabouts. Going by its design and implementation, the Fayemi social security programme is certainly not aimed at improving the lives of the aged in the state, rather it is to reward partisanship and promote indolence, laziness and mediocrity”.
The above statement clearly demonstrates Tola’s ignorance of the definition of social security and its many components in Ekiti State. No doubt, the N5, 000 monthly stipend has done a lot in stimulating economic activities in the state. Farmers and market women who hitherto had to return home with their produce and wares on market days now sell with almost the speed of lightening because the aged have money to buy from them, so are the unemployed youths who collect N10, 000 monthly stipend through the Volunteer Corps.
Tola Olaiya must also know that the social security package in Ekiti State is not just the N5, 000 monthly stipend and that was why I provided the definition of social security. A component of the social security package is the free health scheme for not just the elderly, but pregnant women, children under the age of 5, physically challenged persons and People Living With HIV/AIDS. This programme has brought about a lot of changes in the health indices of Ekiti State. Before Governor Fayemi’s assumption of office in 2010, maternal mortality was 420 per 100,000 live births, but in less than one year (in 2011) it dropped to 135 per 100, 000 live births. The total value of drugs dispensed during the same period increased from N11,038,007,77k to N25,926,398.43k due to increase in demand and utilization. As a result, Ekiti today has the lowest maternal mortality rate and infant mortality rate in Nigeria. All these are what have been achieved through the free health component of the social security which Tola Olaiya claims has brought no gains to Ekiti people.
In less than one year (October 2010 to July 2011) that the free health programme commenced, total attendance, total antenatal clinic attendance and under-5 attendance improved by over 30%. In less than one year elderly citizens accounted 51.15% of registered clients and 42.40% of total facility attendance in the first year of the free health programme. This is responsible for the highest life expectancy that Ekiti State currently has in Nigeria.
The Fayemi-led administration has also held several free health missions to cover the sectors of the population not specified under the free health programme. Over 700, 000 people have benefitted from this.
Another component of the free health programme is the N10, 000 given to 5, 000 unemployed youths monthly in Ekiti State. 5, 000 youths benefited during the first phase and have graduated. Another set of 5, 000 youths are currently in the second batch. This programme has largely reduced armed robbery and other evils brought about by unemployment in the state. This is responsible for the peace currently enjoyed in the state and it is also why it has been difficult for the opposition to find any willing tool in our youths to help perpetrate its usual orgy of violence in the state.
The Food Bank where food items are doled out to less privileged people is part of the social security. So is the Soup Kitchen for those who may be too weak to cook for themselves. I learnt about a certain woman who after collecting her N5, 000 monthly stipend would deposit N3, 000 out of it with a food vendor because she is too weak to cook. There are many who have criticised the Soup Kitchen, arguing that it is alien to Ekiti culture. My question to such people has been that what should government do about elderly people who have no one to cater for them and are too weak to prepare their own meals? Should they be left to die? Isn’t it the duty of a good government to cater for all? Some seem to forget that the extended family tradition is long gone and it now seems like it is everyone for himself. While it is evryone’s right to criticize and offer suggestions on how to achieve better results, it becomes the case of a beyond-the-elbow handshake when we sanctimoniously criticize because of bad blood, envy and long-held-onto hatred.
I am shocked to the marrow that anyone could claim that kidnapping started during the Fayemi administration while in fact it was imported into Ekiti through one Charles Owie who during the Oni administration kidnapped the Attah of Ayede, Oba Orisagbemi and the Provost of College of Education, Ikere-Ekiti, Dr. Gabriel, both of whom turned up dead. Evidently, the Fayemi administration has restored peace to the state.
Tola also compared the Fayemi administration with the Oni administration in the health sector. I visited the Ayede General Hospital during the Segun Oni administration. The sight was so appalling that nothing could have made me subject myself to such mess. The same fate was shared by all general hospitals during this time. These are the hospitals that are currently being renovated by the Fayemi administration. Those who visited the Teaching Hospital then and now would know that a lot of changes and improvements are now visible there. Nurses and doctors are currently being recruited at the Teaching Hospital. A cancer diagnostic and wellness centre has been built within the premises of the Teaching Hospital. The hospital now boasts of a new Accident and Emergency Building New structures have been added at the School of Nursing in Ado-Ekiti and School of Health Technology at Ijero-Ekiti. These are verifiable facts. People are welcome to visit to find out.
The achievements of the Fayemi administration have yielded results which everyone can see in the area of maternal mortality, infant mortality and life expectancy. It is not an accident that Ekiti State has the highest life expectancy of 55 years in the country. It is not an accident that the state has the lowest maternal mortality and infant mortality. All these are because of the free health component of the social security programme of the Fayemi administration.
In the area of unemployment which is countrywide and which the governor has admitted that a lot still has to be done, efforts have been taken to take many youths off the streets. Part of such is the close to 1, 000 teachers newly employed. Interview to fill vacant positions in the Civil Service has been conducted and very soon, names of successful candidates will be announced. The Peace Corps has 800 people on its payroll. There is Ekiti State Traffic Management Agency (EKSTMA) which also has absorbed so many youths. The salaries paid by these two agencies are as attractive as those in the Civil Service. Paramedics were also employed last year, so are fire-fighters.
Beyond these, the Fayemi administration is aware of the need for self-employment. This is why training centres were established in the state. This is also the reason for YCAD (Youths in Commercial Agriculture Development) programme. Last year, Ekiti produced more catfish than she could consume through the YCAD programme. Ekiti State is also the largest producer of cassava in the country. All some critics need to do is to come to Ekiti and go on a project tour. Reading some people sometimes, I get the impression that they are not aware of what has been achieved by the Fayemi administration, so one cannot really blame them, but to educate them. But why must one write about what one knows next to nothing about, because this write-up by Tola Olaiya smacks of sheer ignorance, particularly about what social security means and the provision of the Law backing it in Ekiti.
In line with the position of the United Nations that states that “in sub-saharan Africa, 20 percent of rural women aged 60 and older are the sole supporters of their grandchildren. These caregivers, who take on added and often unexpected responsibilities, typically with little or none of the necessary resources, desperately need social services, especially social pensions, so that they and their families have a chance for life beyond mere survival”, here are some of the provisions of the Ekiti Senior Citizens Welfare Law to educate Tola Olaiya and the unsuspecting public who may have been taken in by his lies.
Section 2: Objectives and Purpose of Law
(1). The purpose of this Law is to make governance in Ekiti State conform to the fundamental objectives and directive principles of state policy enshrined in Chapter II of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended with particular reference to sections 14(2) and 17 of the Constitution.
(2). Pursuant to sub-section (1) of this section, the objectives of this Law are to:
(a) Recognize the existence of the resident elderly person in Ekiti State.
(b) Recognize the rights of elderly persons to take their proper place in the society and to support the participation of elderly persons in the society as integral part of Ekiti State;
(c) Provide for a system of welfare assistance including free health care and payment of welfare grants to beneficiaries under this Law and thereby achieving a minimum standard of living for the relevant elderly people;
(d) be an effective tool to reduce old age poverty, destitution and vulnerability and invest in human capital development;
(e) prevent social exclusion, rights abuse and discrimination of elderly persons; (f) boost the economic potentials and social stability of elderly persons by the provision of the steady income…”
The opposition in Ekiti State is lazy. I advise that they do their homework before putting anything in the public domain.
‘Dimeji Daniels, Spokesperson for the Kayode Fayemi Organisation, writes from Ado in Ekiti State.
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