Is Stomach Infrastructure really sustainable?
NaijaRock
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Posted by Felix Okoli on Wednesday September 30, 2015 at 14:1:23:
Stomach infrastructure as many Nigerians have come to know it is basically something done by the government that involves providing food or food items to the people. It is not exactly an infrastructure in the real sense of it but practically has to do giving food to the grassroot people. So, rather than focus on building infrastructure that could last many years, some feel the need to feed the people directly.When we talk of infrastructure, we talk about those things that involve huge capital outlay for the purpose of providing physical structures that would help better the life of the society for the long term. Things like good roads, electricity, water supply and so on are some of the areas in which the government can set up infrastructure so as to improve the lives of people.A good public infrastructure is made readily available to everyone within that society irrespective of their color or race. It is something publicly available and may be distributed on a time shared basis. People who use roads to get to their destination are already benefiting from infrastructure that was provided by the government and same also for those who visit government hospitals. All are welcome and there is hardly any part of the society that is left behind or excluded.When we take a deeper look at the idea of a government carrying on a program known as stomach infrastructure, you'd see that stomach infrastructure in itself is not an infrastructure since it involves distribution of perishable assets that can't be used over and over again. It involves distribution of items that are considered consumables since they are good items and the basis for distributing them is not entirely clear.It's a good an noble thing for a government to carrying on a stomach infrastructure program to help feed poor and hungry people but one is not sure if it's all the poor people that would be fed or if the food items would equally be distributed to all who need it without the idea of excluding some people. How long before excluded persons start to cry out that they are being marginalized?The other thing to look at when carrying on a stomach infrastructure program is the cost of doing so. This would involve the total cost of distributing food items to probably everyone in the society and the frequency for which it's to be done. It would also include the opportunity cost of projects that may suffer as a result of limited funds available to the government. Will the government be able to carrying on a wide scale stomach infrastructure program that truly benefits all the masses while at the same time be able to carry on their main duty of providing and maintaining real infrastructure?Many politicians and government in Nigeria invest in things that can be considered stomach infrastructure when they are seeking to gain public approval from the masses but the possibility of such noble gestures continuing in the long term is not really guaranteed given that the government still has a lot to do for the public in terms of investing in real infrastructure.So, two things that really bother my mind about stomach infrastructure are on how to decide on who the beneficiaries are and if the there would be enough funds to continue the program for the long term without failing in one's statutory duty.
Stomach infrastructure as many Nigerians have come to know it is basically something done by the government that involves providing food or food items to the people. It is not exactly an infrastructure in the real sense of it but practically has to do giving food to the grassroot people. So, rather than focus on building infrastructure that could last many years, some feel the need to feed the people directly.When we talk of infrastructure, we talk about those things that involve huge capital outlay for the purpose of providing physical structures that would help better the life of the society for the long term. Things like good roads, electricity, water supply and so on are some of the areas in which the government can set up infrastructure so as to improve the lives of people.A good public infrastructure is made readily available to everyone within that society irrespective of their color or race. It is something publicly available and may be distributed on a time shared basis. People who use roads to get to their destination are already benefiting from infrastructure that was provided by the government and same also for those who visit government hospitals. All are welcome and there is hardly any part of the society that is left behind or excluded.When we take a deeper look at the idea of a government carrying on a program known as stomach infrastructure, you'd see that stomach infrastructure in itself is not an infrastructure since it involves distribution of perishable assets that can't be used over and over again. It involves distribution of items that are considered consumables since they are good items and the basis for distributing them is not entirely clear.It's a good an noble thing for a government to carrying on a stomach infrastructure program to help feed poor and hungry people but one is not sure if it's all the poor people that would be fed or if the food items would equally be distributed to all who need it without the idea of excluding some people. How long before excluded persons start to cry out that they are being marginalized?The other thing to look at when carrying on a stomach infrastructure program is the cost of doing so. This would involve the total cost of distributing food items to probably everyone in the society and the frequency for which it's to be done. It would also include the opportunity cost of projects that may suffer as a result of limited funds available to the government. Will the government be able to carrying on a wide scale stomach infrastructure program that truly benefits all the masses while at the same time be able to carry on their main duty of providing and maintaining real infrastructure?Many politicians and government in Nigeria invest in things that can be considered stomach infrastructure when they are seeking to gain public approval from the masses but the possibility of such noble gestures continuing in the long term is not really guaranteed given that the government still has a lot to do for the public in terms of investing in real infrastructure.So, two things that really bother my mind about stomach infrastructure are on how to decide on who the beneficiaries are and if the there would be enough funds to continue the program for the long term without failing in one's statutory duty.