The Founder and President of Anap Foundation, Atedo Peterside, has said asking people to queue up in warehouses for palliatives is wickedness.
Peterside said this recently while speaking at the 4th Nigerian leadership colloquium in honour of Ituah Ighodalo’s 63rd birthday with the theme, ‘Mistakes Nigeria Made,’ which was held at the Trinity Church in Victoria Island, Lagos.
He said, “What is it that we need to do for the majority of Nigeria’s 200 million population, they are not direct beneficiaries of state capture, indeed they are the victims. If you look at the way we are distributing the so-called palliatives, how can you send 100,000 bags of rice and beans to Kano which has 10-15 million hungry people, and you say you are doing something? In all honesty, even the methods we have put in place to try and put in safety nets are unserious and show that there is no intention that any assistance gets to the poorest of the poor.”
“Unlike in 2012, when the financial technology sector was not well developed, even in 2019, more so in 2024, we have the instrument to renew a National Identity Card, which is a payment-enabled instrument, every Nigerian has a National Identification Number, if the government is serious, they could actually issue this card to every Nigerian, all of them have their NIN, but for whatever reason, the government always fall short of giving them that card.
“If you give them that card, then you do not need to ask people to queue up for anything, you can program the payment, rather than telling people to come and queue up in a warehouse, and they kill themselves, that is wickedness, it is callous because you have the instrument and you do not want to use it because it is too transparent.”
Speaking on the solutions to the country’s problem, Peterside called for electoral reform, advocating for the use of the National Identification Number instead of the Permanent Voter’s Card.
He said, “Do you know that if they give everybody a National Identity Card, they won’t need the PVC, because it has more data on it than the bloody PVC. Why are they insisting on the PVC, it makes it possible for rogue INEC officials to decide who they can disenfranchise in Nigeria, and Nigeria that can be done simply by a knowledge of surname types, you can decide you want to disenfranchise a particular ethnic zone and they cannot stop you.
“And people come to me that we should get ready for the next election, why would you take part in a race that you know is rigged without demanding that the rules are rigged.”
