N400bn poverty alleviation fund: Implementation gulped N50bn— Steering Committee

N400bn poverty alleviation fund: Implementation gulped N50bn

Gov. Abdullahi Sule Governor of Nasarawa State

…Performance low, not where we expect to be — Sule

Of the entire N400 billion approved by President Muhammadu Buhari for the National Poverty Reduction with Growth Strategy to reduce poverty and enhance growth in the Nigeria, only about N50 billion has been expended for project implementation, the steering Committe has disclosed.

Co-chairman of the Committee on the National Poverty Reduction with Growth Strategy, and Governor of Nasarawa State, Abdullahi Sule made the disclosure while speaking with State House Correspondents on Wednesday after a meeting of the Committee chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Giving update on the affairs of the Committee as the President Buhari led Administration draws to a close, Sule said, “In July 2022, we the same Steering Committee being chaired by the Vice President, we sat down and reviewed a presentation by the Technical Working Group, which is chaired by the Minister of State, Budget and Planning, as well as myself as the co-chair.

“So, we presented the approval of the N400 billion Naira and how it will be spent. So, today we just came to review the implementation, and the update of the spending so far and also approval for this year’s spending for the same Committee. So, that’s really what just happened.”

On the level of implementation  vis-a-vis the funds disbursed so far, Sule noted the performance was slow compared to the expected outcome.

He noted that the project is much more of a national outlook where Mr. President, based on submissions of the Presidential Economic Advisory Committee and the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) made a recommendation for the Committee to reform.

“So, it’s a national thing, it is not for any particular State. Now, based on that, and the recommendation that was made, and for what we received from the chairman of the Technical Working Group, over N50bn has been spent so far.

“So, the performance so far is low, it is not yet where we expect to go but nearly every aspect of the 15 areas where the spending will be carried out; Ministry of Social Development, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Water Resources, the Ministry of Finance and National Planning as well. So, every one of them has some kind of implementation, one after another,” he said.

Recall that the Steering Committee on National Poverty Reduction with Growth Strategy, was inaugurated by President Buhari in June 2021.

However, in 2019, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Tuesday said the government had injected the sum of N500 billion to create wealth and alleviate poverty.

Osinbajo said this at the 58th Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) themed “Transition, Transformation and Sustainable Institutions” at the International Conference Centre, Abuja.

According to him, one way of checking poverty is to incrementally improve capacity and put money in the hands of the poorest. This he said, the government is doing through the National Social Investment Programmes (NSIP).

He said that it was in recognition of the menace of poverty that the Federal Government rolled out the (NSIP) aimed at improving capacity and alleviating poverty.

“We started off in 2016 looking at a budget that was crafted differently; all along if you look at the way we have approached economic policies, it has always been the case of top-down approach,” Osinbajo said.

“So, we look at how to improve industry; how to improve manufacturing; we look at how to give loans to Micro Small and Medium Enterprises(MSMEs),”

“The N500 billion covers conditional cash transfer to the poorest; one million of the poorest; we work with the World Bank for special coverage to determine the beneficiaries.”

Osinbajo explained that the approach “adopted in 2016 was first to create to create a safety net; so we, for the first time, we put in the budget a line for is called NSIP; that is N500 billion for NSIP and that is the largest of its kind in the history of the country.”

The Vice President disclosed that 500,000 graduates had been employed under the N-Power which was a part of NSIP for providing jobs to graduates.

He also listed TraderMoni scheme which was a micro-credit scheme aimed at the empowering 2 million petty traders as a part of the ways the government is trying to reduce poverty.