Some Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in the country has welcomed the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) prompt response to the Federal Government’s request for financial assistance to fight the COVID-19 pandemic and shore up the country’s failing economy by approving a loan of $3.4bn in emergency support.
They, however, urged the FG to prioritize and utilise these funds to improve health spending, socio-economic safety nets and support for small and medium scale enterprises.
The CSOs who said this on Tuesday in Abuja are the Oxfam in Nigeria, Budgit, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) and Connected Development (CODE).
According to the IMF, the pandemic will trigger the worst economic recession since the Great Depression, and far worse than that seen during the 2008 financial crisis.
However, an Oxfam analysis shows that this crisis could set back the fight against poverty 30 years in sub-Saharan Africa.
Also, the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) estimates that anywhere between 300,000 and 3.3 million Africans could lose their lives as a direct result of COVID-19, depending on the intervention measures taken to stop the spread.
“Even before the ongoing pandemic, poverty and inequality levels were unacceptably high in Nigeria. Both the FGN and IMF therefore need to ensure that these funds are directed towards meeting the needs of the most vulnerable in society especially women, children, internally displaced persons and rural communities”, the Oxfam in Nigeria Country Director, Constant Tchona said.
On his part, the Executive Director, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, said, “To ensure full transparency, openness and accountability in the application of this loan to serve the people who need it most, we urge both Government and IMF to take a step further and support the creation of a civil society network to contribute to monitor the disbursement of the funds.”
The CSOs said the Federal Government faces a dilemma of whether to save lives and livelihoods or continue meeting its obligations to global creditors, but that it will cost more if government chooses the latter as lives lost can never be recovered.
“We call for an immediate cancelation of all payments owed by Nigeria to bilateral, international financial institutions and commercial lenders that are due in 2020. This will allow the Nigerian Government the needed fiscal space to save lives, fight the pandemic and resuscitate the flagging economy,” they said.
