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The recent alarm raised by the World Bank over the inefficiency of the Federal Government’s Social Safety net programmes underscores the need to strengthen the poverty alleviation initiatives. The government should be transparent in administering the poverty alleviation schemes. In its latest report released last week titled, “The State of Social Safety Nets in Nigeria,” the World Bank disclosed that despite billions of naira spent yearly, the safety net programmes have failed to reach those who need them the most. It stressed that only 44 per cent of the funds allocated to it benefit the targeted segment of the population. This means that the share of the benefits going to the poor is lower than the share of beneficiaries that are poor. The World Bank is one of the multilateral donors of the government programme designed for the vulnerable in the society.
The World Bank report, besides assessing government’s level of spending on the social safety net schemes, also examines their level of coverage and efficiency. The report revealed how poor targeting, weak funding and fragmented implementation have left millions of poor Nigerians without meaningful relief in spite of the much-touted poverty-reduction promises by successive administrations in the country. Recently, the Minister of Finance, and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Wale Edun, said the federal government “is targeting 15 million households, covering some 70 million people through the digital cash-grant scheme.” He also claimed that an additional 8.5 million households have already received at least one tranche of the N25,000 payment, while 6.5 million households are expected to be paid before the end of the year.
However, the World Bank paints a different picture, saying only a “smaller portion of benefits goes to the poor” despite their dominance among beneficiaries, representing about 56 per cent of the recipients of the poor. The bank blamed the imbalance in the way most of the programmes, including the social safety nets were designed in allocating a fixed amount per household rather than per person. As a result, poor families, often larger in size, end up sharing limited benefits among members. Besides, the report faulted other government’s initiatives, such as the National Home-grown School Feeding Programme, which tends to focus on individuals rather than households, describing it as having little impact. The School Feeding scheme targets only pupils in grade 1-3. It has been criticised to be lacking full national coverage, restricting the number of children who can benefit from the programme.
It will be recalled that in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, in charge of the school feeding programme claimed to have spent billions of naira without providing evidence at a time of nationwide shutdown. Unfortunately, the scheme has been marred by corruption. This supports the alarm raised by the World Bank about the programme.
Statistics show that Nigeria spends barely 0.14 per cent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on social protection for its citizens. This is below the global average of 1.1 per cent. This has prompted the World Bank to warn that the little allocation to social safety has almost “no impact” on poverty reduction. The combined effect of all the existing social protection programmes in the country is only capable of reducing the national poverty rate by just 0.4 percentage points. The World Bank blamed the weak impact on “poor design and benefit dilution.” There is need for the present administration to take the latest World Bank report seriously. It is one thing to make claims, what is important is what can be verified.
Few months ago, the government said it has disbursed N330 million to eight million vulnerable households under the social investment programme. But there is no evidence to back it up. Limited independent verification of cash transfers has made it difficult to ascertain the transparency of the programme. Even when payments have been made, the sums are modest relative to present cost-of-living increase. This has left many recipients short of the real support they need. A well-designed, and reliably delivered cash transfer that can provide substantial relief and ultimately lead to long-term social inclusion, is what poor, vulnerable Nigerians need. Experience has shown that the design and implementation of most of the social protection schemes has not been well-thought out before rushing into implementation.
This has undermined the credibility of the programmes and eroded their impact on the target groups. This is why the social safety programmes have not been effective. Government should rejig the entire programme in line with present economic realities. Policymakers should learn from countries where poverty reduction programmes have worked effectively and efficiently. If the government indeed intends to make the social safety programmes change from the present temporary relief to lasting benefits, we advise that those entrusted with the schemes should move away from the current episodic cash hand-outs to a more coherent, transparent and sustainable social protection plan. The bottom line should be to make a conscious effort to integrate it with growth policies, expand job opportunities, as well as stabilise prices and rebuild public trust. Going forward, we urge the government to strengthen the poverty alleviation initiatives.
