ADVERSITY comes in many forms-acute, cyclical, long-term and systemic. It sometimes affects individuals or single firms; other times it cuts across a wide swath of entities. However, its pathology is consistent: Adversity constrains a key resource which then depresses demand, supply or both.
Despite this importance, there are glaring examples of situations where the planning processes and strategies by ministries, departments and agencies in Nigeria were characterised by discontinuity, reversals and somersaults. Or total lack of clear definition of problems, the goals to be achieved, or means chosen to address the problems-with virtually no consideration for connecting the poor with good means of livelihood-food, education, job and security.
Latest revelation supporting this argument is the content of the revised nation’s budget signed by President Muhammadu Buhari on July 10, 2020. Initially, the revised budget sought to reduce the 2020 budget from N10.6 trillion to N10.5 trillion, but was, however, increased by the lawmakers to N10.8 trillion, higher than the initially approved budget in December 2019.
Even those of us who initially believed that the present government admission in 2017 and the funding of education at all levels in the country is below the benchmark recommended by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation, UNESCO, will bring a change, has finally come to the conclusion that nothing has changed.
Working with the above information, it rings the following questions: does this strategy make a political and socioeconomic sense with the out of school Nigerian children currently put at over 13.1million? Will the UBEC intervention funds pegged at N111.79 billion be good enough to get these children off the streets? What do we make of the fact that approximately 85.