Buhari reneging on promise to lift 100m Nigerians out of poverty

President Muhammadu Buhari is being perceived to have reneged on his promise to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty. This is as potential beneficiaries who applied for the federal government’s intervention loans, many from southwest Nigeria, have been waiting from January to December 2021 without receiving any disbursement.

Our investigation revealed that many who filled forms for loans between January and April 2021 have not received responses from Abuja. Some of the applicants said that each time they enquire for an update, their contacts tell them it could be done the following month, explaining that all paper works have been but only waiting for the federal government’s approval to disburse the loans.

Some of the applicants further disclosed that the facilitators allegedly collected between N57,000 to N64,000 from them while processing their application forms for opening of account on their behalf with the micro finance bank the federal government approved to facilitate the loan application and disbursement.

Months after applications, including the payment, no bank account details were sent to the applicants.

Some of the applicants said that on further inquiry, they were told that the last disburse was done in November 2020. According to the applicants, at a certain time, they were “told that the delay is being caused because of the inability of the federal government to recover previously disbursed loans from the early beneficiaries, especially, in northern Nigeria.”

The applicants are becoming frustrated as the year 2021 is about to end without any beneficiary of the federal government intervention fund from the southwest states.

President Buhari had earlier disclosed that beneficiaries of his administration’s social development program, N-power, rose from 500,000 to one million, with increasing access to credit for the poor and vulnerable through government enterprise and empowerment program loans.

The President reiterated the commitment of his administration to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty by 2030, though his tenure ends in 2023.

Meanwhile, applicants are waiting.