[Nigeria] Worldbank, NAPEP Partner On Poverty Eradication

from All Africa

Onwuka Nzeshi
Abuja

The World Bank, National Poverty Eradication Programme, and the Social Protection Advisory Group of the National Planning Commission has kick-started a comprehensive Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT), scheme aimed at complementing poverty eradication programme in Nigeria.

The programme, which has the backing of the British Department for International Development (DFID), will explore new strategies of tackling the peculiar poverty situation prevalent in Nigeria, using NAPEP's grassroots structures.

The Federal Government has also set up a presidential committee, to raise the sum of N50billion in loan facilities for agriculture, and make the loans available for the 2006 farming season.

The programme is meant to spur agriculture and agro-allied activities across the large, medium, small and micro levels.

National Co-ordinator, National Poverty Eradication Programme, Dr Magnus Kpa-kol, said these in Abuja yesterday, while addressing NAPEP coordinators from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, at the maiden meeting of NAPEP management and state coordinators for the year 2006.

The CCTs, Kpakol said, will give certain cash benefits to participants in the programme, in exchange for a specified action. According to him, the programme is being used in some parts of the world to induce parents to increase their investments in human capital development, especially children education and health care.

Kpakol acknowledged that Nigeria has over the years carried out programmes similar to CCT in principle, the new resolve is to bring the broad concept of the the programme to bear on ares of poverty eradication such as education, health and micro enterprise. The Minister of Finance, Prof. Ngozi Okonjo had in 2005, asked the World Bank to assist the country in exploring options for the implementation of a CCT programme in Nigeria and based on this request, the World Bank conducted a rapid appraisal on the posibility of implementing the programme in the country.

In the course of the study, the World Bank identified bursary, school feeding programme, take home rations, immunisation and maternal health services as posible areas where CCT could be applied. Other areas include subsidised interest rates and micro financing.

Kpakol urged NAPEP Coordinators from across the states to collate some valuable information from their localities by engaging grassroots cooperatives and other community based organisations in constructive interactions, adding that such information will be useful to the new strategy recommended by the World Bank.

On the funds to be raised by the presidential committee, Kpakol further disclosed that the nationÃ-s commercial banks are expected to contributeN30billion; SMIES will contribute the sum of N6billion while the Nigeria Agricultural Cooperative and Rural Development Bank (NACRDB) will contribute N3.5billion. Other areas where funds will be sourced include the Central Bank of Nigeria, Agricultural Credit Gurrantee Scheme, N2.5billion; 36 State governments and Abuja, N7.4 billion while the sum of N0.7billion is expected from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Fund to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture. The funds aree to be distributed on a 60:40 percentage ratio to farming and agro allied activities while due preference will be given to women and small scale farmers to boost production and alleviate poverty.