Nigerian Social Intervention Program Was Designed With The Lessons Of The Past In Mind TheNigerialawyer

* Says Design Premise Of The NSIPS Took Into Cognizance The
Challenges And Weakness In The Country’s Social Investments Over
The Last 26 Years
*Says They Have Not Been Fully Funded.
*We Are Bringing Previously Faceless Nigerians With No Formal
Identities Into The Nigerian Economy
*MSME Growth Results Indicate An Average Increase Of NGN6, 729.27
In Sales And NGN45, 833.78 In The Value Of MSMES That Received
MarketMoni

Special Adviser to the President of Nigeria, Maryam Uwais, has
said that the Nigerian Social Intervention Program was designed
with the lessons of the past in mind. Mrs. Uwais made this
statement while putting the record straight to the effect that the
NSIP was tackling the real problems of lack of economic growth and
wealth creation, and not necessarily treating the symptoms.

According to her, there have been several policies put forward
by the Nigerian government as a means of alleviating poverty; and
that in response to falling oil prices in 2014 and 2015 and the
resulting recession in 2016, the Federal Government of Nigeria
(FGN) deployed a series of social programmes through the Office of
the Presidency, dubbed the National Social Investment Office
(NSIO), adding that, the vision of the 2017 – 2020 Economic
Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) is one of sustained inclusive
growth – through investments in the Nigerian people by increasing
social inclusion, creating jobs and improving the human capital
base of the economy.

She said that the Design premise of the NSIPs took into
cognizance the challenges and weakness in the country’s social
investments over the last 26 years, stressing that, the NSIPs were
initiated by the Government of Nigeria in its efforts to address
the challenges around our human capital development with the aim of
reducing poverty and creating wealth in order to tackle the
socio-economic vulnerability in the country.

“Achieving macroeconomic stability is a key execution priority
for the Nigerian government as identified in the ERGP. These
challenges require changes to economic as well as social policies.
Investment in social protection is imperative to secure any
recovery or growth gains. The Design premise of the NSIPs took into
cognizance the challenges and weakness in the country’s social
investments over the last 26 years.

“The NSIPs were initiated by the Government of Nigeria in its
efforts to address the challenges around our human capital
development with the aim of reducing poverty and creating wealth in
order to tackle the socio-economic vulnerability in the country. In
2016, the government appropriated NGN500 Billion to ensure smooth
implementation of the programmes. The NSIP is responsible for the
management and delivery of four (4) social investment programmes,
namely; (1) the National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme
(NHGSF), (2) the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) Programme, (3) the
Government Enterprise Empowerment Programme (GEEP) and (4) the
N-Power initiative,” she said.

She also added that to date, out of an annual approved budget of
N500 Billion, between 2016 and 2018, the total sum of
N470,825,522,694.62 has so far been released to the NSIO and
expended on the above-mentioned programmes as follows, being 31% of
the appropriated amount for the period: 2016 (N79,985,158,705.32),
2017 (N140,000,000,000.00); and 2018 ( N250,840,363,989.30).

Speaking further, she described the impact of the various
intervention programmes on the targeted members of the public. She
said that between March and April of 2019, the Policy Innovation
Unit (PIU) jointly conducted an impact evaluation on 3 of the 4
NSIPs; that the Policy Innovation Unit is jointly made up of the
Nigerian Economic Summit Group, Accenture and Busara Center for
Behavioral Economics, adding that the objectives of the impact
evaluation study was to assess the impacts of the NSIO
interventions against the specific programme objectives – as
envisaged during the adoption and initial implementation of the
programmes.

Speaking on the overview of the Current Reach of the National
Home-Grown School Feeding (NHGSF), She said that Nigeria is fast on
its way to becoming the leader in Africa in the National Home-Grown
School Feeding Programme, by feeding over 9.5 Million pupils and
still counting, adding that, it is instructive to note that the
Federal Government has achieved this feat within the space of 3
years.

“Today, we have 103,992 cooks on our payroll, feeding 9,514,342
pupils in primary years 1-3, in 53,715 government primary schools
around 31 States, while all the remaining States are at various
stages of meeting the criteria we have laid, for feeding to
commence.

“These children are able to eat a balanced diet, towards
improving their learning outcomes. Furthermore, the agricultural
value chain has been increasing by the day, assuring of a
sustainable income for the small holder farmers, especially those
that reside around our public schools. For instance, in each week
of the programme, the NHGSFP requires 94 metric tons of fish,
7,260,862 eggs and 767 cattle slaughtered for the pupils being fed.
Fruits, vegetables and grains are part of the carefully thought-out
balanced diet for all of the pupils. The impact on our rural
economy has been remarkable,” she said.

On one of the NHGSF Objectives which is to increase enrolment
and completion rates at primary schools, she said that from the
sample of schools studied, the PIU found teachers in NHGSF schools
reported a 12.5% increase in the average number of pupils enrolled
(across primary 1-3). A large proportion of NHGSF teachers (92.1%)
across the 600 schools sampled across 6 states in each of the 6
geopolitical zones reported an increase in enrolment, stressing
that, they do see positive signs of increased enrollment from the
sample (although statistical evidence around this is weak); and
given the programme is relatively new in some states ( not all
states were on boarded on the programme in 2015) the programme is
still gaining momentum in some states and they hope to see
continued positive signs of enrollment as the programme progresses.
“The programme had anticipated a national target of 20% enrolment
increment rate by 2019. This result indicates that the NHGSF is on
track to achieving this target, but not as fast as anticipated,”
she said.

She also said that Teachers in NHGSF schools reported a positive
increase in the average performance of pupils compared to teachers
in non-NHGSF schools. Teachers in NHGSF schools reported better
perceived academic performance of their students compared to the
reports of teachers in none HGSF schools. The main takeaway is that
they measured a statistically significant improvement in
attendance, specifically time spent in schools.

On NHGSF’s objective which is to Decrease malnutrition and
low-height-for-age, the impact evaluation results shown reveals
that slightly lower levels of stunting (height-for-age) among
pupils in NHGSF schools (15.4% boys and 13.5% girls) compared to
pupils in non-NHGSF schools (19.5% boys and 15.9% girls). According
to her, the little difference could be caused by externalities such
as – parents of pupils in NHGSF not providing their children with
breakfast or lunch as they would otherwise have or as a result of
external hygienic factors – which dampens the effect of the quality
meals provided to them at school.

On another programme which is the Government Enterprise
Empowerment Programme (GEEP), Mrs. Uwais said that it aims to
promote financial inclusion and access to credit for MSMEs, market
traders, artisans, youth and farmers, adding that, it intends to
provide affordable microloans ranging from NGN10,000 to NGN100,000
to at least 4 million businesses in 4 years – to achieve growth
through MSMEs (e.g., reducing the financial exclusion rate) in the
country. She noted that GEEP is designed to provide microcredit and
sector-relevant “just-in-time” technical assistance to develop and
grow at least 1.6 million beneficiaries in 1 year – with a focus on
traders, artisans, farmers/agriculture workers, of which 60% are
women and 12.5% are youth entrepreneurs covering the 6 geopolitical
zones.

“The Programme aims to promote financial inclusion and access to
credit for MSMEs, market traders, artisans, youth and farmers. The
programme intends to provide affordable microloans ranging from
NGN10,000 to NGN100,000 to at least 4 million businesses in 4 years
– to achieve growth through MSMEs (e.g., reducing the financial
exclusion rate) in the country. GEEP is designed to provide
microcredit and sector-relevant “just-in-time” technical assistance
to develop and grow at least 1.6 million beneficiaries in 1 year –
with a focus on traders, artisans, farmers/agriculture workers, of
which 60% are women and 12.5% are youth entrepreneurs covering the
6 geopolitical zones. These target segments account for 27 million
of the Nigerian population

“The programme is expected to result in an estimated total
growth in the monthly income of the 4.6 million beneficiaries by
about NGN52 Billion, i.e., NGN8,333 to NGN11,950 per beneficiary
monthly, one year after loan disbursement – doubling beneficiaries’
monthly incomes. It will also lead to an increase in financial
inclusion with 3.8 million new bank accounts, corresponding to
about 3.9% increase in Nigeria’s financial inclusion rate by 2020.
It will provide financial literacy to the 4.6 million
beneficiaries, with 31 hours of financial literacy made available
to each beneficiary over the course of the loan. GEEP runs 3
microcredit schemes; MarketMoni, TraderMoni and FarmerMoni,” she
said.

Speaking further, she said that MSME Growth Results indicate an
average increase of NGN6, 729.27 in sales and NGN45, 833.78 in the
value of MSMEs that received MarketMoni, stressing that
Beneficiaries reported that they stock more goods for sale; that
the result shows that there is a significant increase in business
performance as measured by sales and inventory, adding that this
suggests that beneficiaries are utilizing the loan to grow their
businesses. She also said that TraderMoni beneficiaries increased
their savings in bank accounts, showing there is an increase in
savings for people who choose to save in a bank account, and this
indicates a greater use of financial services for TraderMoni
beneficiaries.

“TraderMoni beneficiaries increased their savings in bank
accounts, showing there is an increase in savings for people who
choose to save in a bank account, this indicates a greater use of
financial services for TraderMoni beneficiaries. However, the
amount saved decreased – as expected with beneficiaries who are in
the process of repaying loans. Education plays a key role in
financial inclusion. For MarketMoni beneficiaries, the ability to
read and write increases bank savings deposit by (9%) and increases
mobile banking by (18%). For TraderMoni, it increases mobile
banking by (12%). University graduates have a 19% higher usage of
mobile money on MarketMoni and 18% on TraderMoni.

“The presence of very high Mobile connectivity increases
MarketMoni recipients deposit in their bank accounts compared to
areas with no mobile connectivity. However, in rural areas, a
bank-based savings product may be more useful to rural savers and
could serve to compliment a credit product. TraderMoni recipients
are making more deposits into their mobile money accounts. This is
possibly because recipients receive disbursements through mobile
money accounts and thus are more exposed to its use case.
Recipients of TraderMoni who save are saving more in bank accounts.
This is possibly due to the fact that Withdrawal (cash out) from a
bank account provides interaction with the formal banking system,
building their trust in the system.

“The system of loan receipts impacts beneficiary savings
behaviour. TraderMoni recipients who received the loan on their
personal-bank accounts seem to be saving more money when compared
to those who do not have a bank account (and thus receive the loan
on someone else’s account), they are saving less by 15% – but are
using more of bank accounts to save by 21%. For TraderMoni, those
in a savings or credit group have higher savings rate by (24%),
however, they are saving in bank account by 9%, and while they are
saving more, the amount they save is lower by 31% than those not in
a savings or credit group,” she added.

Away from that, Mrs. Uwais also spoke on what they are doing to
tackle inadequate data keeping. According to her, riding on the
success of the Social Investment programmes, the lessons learnt and
the strategy documented in the National Social Protection Policy,
they have commenced the process of designing a roadmap for
institutionalizing sustainable delivery towards clearly defined
socio-economic and poverty alleviation targets, as well as a
comprehensive structure for the next 5 years. The process,
according to her, has also begun for setting targets towards
reducing poverty and our poor human capital indices, as well as a
thorough assessment of sustained financing for the social sector,
through the consideration of feasible funding options.

She also emphasized that they are driving financial inclusion by
facilitating identification through the Bank Verification Number
(Nigerian Biometric Identification System for Banking). On social
inclusion, she said the Bank Verification Number (biometric
identity) of beneficiaries is also linked to the National
Identification Number database at NIMC; that The N-SIPs identify
and bring into visibility those who before the NSIPs had never
‘existed’, making for proper planning, stressing that they are
therefore bringing previously faceless Nigerians with no formal
identities into the Nigerian Economy. She also listed among other,
the efforts of the government on Data for National Planning, and
the Unemployed Graduates Database.

Also, speaking on how underfunding is affecting the effective
implementation of the programmes, she stressed that it is pertinent
to note that out of an annual approved budget of N500 Billion,
between 2016 and 2018, the total sum of N470,825,522,694.62 has so
far been released to the NSIO and expended on the above-mentioned
programmes as follows, being 31% of the appropriated amount for the
period; 2016 – N79,985,158,705.32, 2017 – N140,000,000,000.00, and
2018 – N250,840,363,989.30. She thus added that every year, the
National Assembly has budgeted N500, 000,000.00, but they have
never been fully funded. This has reduced our capacity to reach out
to entire country.

Other challenges highlighted beyond funding are: Lack of
awareness/publicity due to diverse and huge territory covered, poor
connectivity and internet access for technology-aided timely and
secure payments, remoteness of the locations where beneficiaries
reside, so grievances not timely escalated, etc.

Subscribe ToNairalaw News!