Chairman of Association of Local Governments in Nigeria, ALGON, Plateau State branch, Hon Ezekiel Vulgap, last Wednesday added his voice to the growing widespread concern over the management of the N-power programme of the Federal Government.
During the courtesy visit to the Government House by the state focal person for the programme, Dr. Hamsa and her appeal for support to stabilize the scheme she claimed has placed 11,000 poor households and 4,000 lactating mothers on N5,000 monthly with 800,000 being enrolled in 11 LGA’s there, Vulgap who was equally full of praises for the idea behind the plan, during his presentation of implementation report to the press, however noted: “In summary, I would say SIP has actually impacted positively and added value on the people and economy of the state. But as the programme enters the second phase of implementation, I would advise that there should be strict supervision and monitoring to ensure that only those that are in need benefit.”
” Because no matter the good intention of government through the program, without proper supervision and monitoring, the essence would be defeated.”
The ALGON Chairman’s remarks were as revealing as it was disturbing. On the one hand, it confirmed the fears expressed by the handlers of the scheme several months ago that the plan was being sabotaged. On the other, it also showed that nothing was being done to seriously solve the observed lapses, many months after they were identified.
Indeed, no less a person than the Special Adviser to the President on SIP, Mrs Maryamn Uwais had raised the alarm saboteurs posed to the programme, many months ago.
At a well- attended event by functionaries of government and federal lawmakers on August 21 in Abuja, she lamented that officials and monarchs at the grassroots have hijacked the programme, particularly Tradermoni, cash transfer to petty traders. She disclosed she had reported the matter to the security agencies and anti-graft bodies and esposed the states involved as Benue, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Niger and Osun. Then she sounded helpless when she observed that alerted security agencies were doing nothing to curb the rot.
The event was the 13th Anti-Corruption Agency event for the 9th National Assembly, organized by the Human and Environmental Development Agenda, and NGO.
To quote her, “There are people in the Local Governments and at the state levels who have been able to exploit the vulnerability of our beneficiaries.
“We asked our monitors to investigate and we discovered that it was true. We have reported those cases to the security agencies. Whether or not the security agencies have been swift or aggressive in their approach is another case. As far as compiling and submitting our findings to the security agencies, we have done our best.
“The Bank of Industry, BoI, has been able to apprehend and report the perpetrators of such acts. We have given our statements to the anti-corruption agencies. The suspects have been invited but I am yet to see any prosecution. I have also reported Benue and Niger with evidence forwarded to the law enforcement agencies”
Almost a month after Mrs Uwais gave the alarm, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, disclosed its thinking on the subject. At the 15th Anti-Corruption Situation Room, organized by the same NGO but this time in Kaduna, on September 24, the Commission’s spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, practically pushed the onus on civil society.
Wilson, who represented the EFCC’s Acting Chairman, Ibrahim Magu, at the event, said: “The crisis in Nigeria today boils to corruption. The EFCC is doing everything possible to ensure that stolen resources are recovered and returned. Civil society organisations need to play more active role, especially in the National Social Investment Programme. Corruption has crept into the implementation of the programme. We want to ensure we do not create more crisis from a crisis situation.”
Apart from being a sad confirmation of Uwais’ fears, this statement is a convenient but inaccurate response from the EFCC. It is passing the buck at best. An agency of government had investigated its own affairs and found culprits implicated in graft, which it reported to the anti-graft agency and yet we are told the civil society should do another round of investigation? Which means, Uwais’ claim stands: “We have given our statements to the anti-corruption agencies. The suspects have been invited but I am yet to see any prosecution.”
Doubtless, civil society organisations with technical capacity and experience can help to monitor the scheme’s cash transfer programmes at the state level, where also the Independent Corruption Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, is expected to handle officials implicated in shady dealings. But it is not their job to prosecute or arrest.
Indeed, First Lady, Aisha Buhari had preceded Mrs Uwais with her observation that something shady was going on in NSIP. At a women’s gathering in Aso Rock, on June 13, she had knocked the body’s claims and alleged that it had spent $16million and N12 billion on mosquito nets on beneficiaries.
Nonetheless, Uwais’ praiseworthy alarm and concern for lack of due process and accountability in the execution of the NSIP are what make room for the kind of accusations levied by the First Lady: And the abuse and misuse going on with the scheme.
Recall that the NSIP was created by the government in 2016 to ensure the implementation of its four cardinal social investment programmes, namely, feeding for primary school pupils, create jobs for 500,000 yearly, carry out conditional cash transfer for traders and the poor and enterprise promotions.
When the EFCC says, as Uwujiaren did at the earlier mentioned event, that “corruption has crept into the implementation of the National Social Investment Programme”, it is taken that the scheme, targeted at improving production, consumption, health and nutrition of the people, particularly at the grassroots, is floundering.
Regardless of the implied fraud in the implementation of the NSIP, we identify with the concept and suggest that it should be rejigged.
Already, there is grave concern that the scheme as currently structured, cannot go far in addressing the needs of 89 millions poverty- stricken Nigerians as identified by the World Poverty Clock and millions of jobless youths or help President Buhari to fulfill his 10-year plan to lift 10million Nigerians out of poverty. What would N5,000 avail anybody in Nigeria’s market place hit by runaway inflation, low industrial productive capacity and heightened insecurity? Still, many Nigerians, particularly the countless poor need any form of financial support to stand straight.
So, the programme is a good start and with experience at the go, such efficiency and structural issues as raised by Mrs Uwais, would provide templates for understanding with a bid to proper implementation. But, truth be told, many of the identified culprits would be found in the rank of supporters of the ruling APC.
Even so, for crying out aloud, Uwais needs all the help and support she can get to make her forge ahead with the programme.
We call on the new Economic Team recently inaugurated by President Buhari to avert its attention to the plan and provide necessary inputs to it. The security agencies should look into her claims and bring the culprits to book.
Indeed, solving poverty in developing countries is not rocket science as the 2019 Nobel Memorial Award winners in Economics- Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo, Michael Kremer- have shown with their ground- breaking experimental work on poverty alleviation in India and parts of Africa: Incentivise the people to do their work and empower women.
