Poverty, a state of being poor, has been identified as one of the factors that lead to the inherent challenges of social equality in a country like Nigeria richly endowed with natural and mineral resources.? Patience Ivie Obhafuoso writes
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Most communities in Nigeria have not felt the impact of democracy. These communities are neglected in the areas of education, health and infrastructures.? This ugly situation has promoted??? rural- urban migration which has in turn led to congestion in most cities, especially the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).?
Though previous governments had devised several schemes to alleviate poverty, such as the establishment of the National Directorate of Employment (NDE),?? the People’s Bank of Nigeria (PBN), Nigeria Agricultural and Cooperative Bank(NACB), Family? Economic and Advancement Programme (FEAP), the National Agricultural and Development Programme(NADP), as well as the poverty Alleviation Programme (PAP), virtually in all cases, the attempt fell short of expectations.
Subsequently, the existing schemes were rationalized by the government to form the National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP) in January 2001.
In spite of these number of poverty alleviation schemes that have been initiated and implemented by successive governments,? the report of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)? says that? Nigeria is still deep in poverty, ranked 148 out of 173 countries studied for the Human Development Index, which is a composition of income, life expectancy and literacy rate.?
In an attempt to combat this problem, the federal government sought the assistance of the World Bank towards the implementation of Community and Social Development Project (CSDP).? CSDP is concerned with the challenges of prevalence of poverty in the country as an overall strategy for growth and poverty reduction in the country.? The project is also expected to provide special programmes for the vulnerable and highly marginalized groups, as well as others affected by external or endogenous shocks.? It is projected at creating an appropriate enabling environment by providing a roadmap for sound relationship between LGCs and communities.
The project is ongoing in 27 states of the federation, assisted by the World Bank and co-financed by the federal government and the participating states.
The states are? Abia, Akwa Ibom, Adamawa, Anambra, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Cross River, Ebonyi, Edo, Ekiti, Enugu, Gombe and Imo.
Others include Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Ondo,Osun, Oyo, Plateau, Taraba, Yobe and Zamfara.
An official of the Federal Project Support Unit, CSDP, Mrs Tabitha Buba, said that the project is committed to spending?? at least US$ 380 in the specified number of states, local government and communities on improving the standard of living among the people.
According to her, CSDP would increase access of the poor people to improved social and natural resources and infrastructural services.?
She said, “Before a state can be eligible to participate in CSDP, the state government would deposit an initial contribution of at least N100million to a project account, certified by the Federal Ministry of Finance and the International Development Association.”
In Oyo State where the project is in progress,? the general manager,? of? the Oyo State Community and Social Development Agency (OYCSDA), Busari Olalekan Jelili, said the agency had disbursed a total of over N100m for projects ranging from rehabilitation of roads, electricity,? class rooms blocks, health centre, drilling of boreholes and construction of open market stores.? “This is about 95%-100% completion of the first phase and the ongoing second phase of the projects, while each community is expected to contribute 10% of the project sum” he said.
He added that as part of the mandatory requirement for the inclusion of Oyo state in the implementation of the project by the World Bank, the state established OYCSDA through Oyo State House of Assembly in December 2008 to implement the World Bank project.
According to him, OYCSDP’s documents of operation known as Project Implementation Manual (PIM) and Community implementation Manual (CIM) were formulated and approved in 2008.
Jelili said, “The project has three components such as the community investment component, local government area/sectoral ministries capacity and partnership building component, coordination and Programme Support Component. The first two components are currently managed at the state level by state Agencies established by law and the third component managed by a Federal Project Support Unit, supervised by the Federal Ministry of Finance.
While summing up? the workings of the project, the general manager revealed that the agency was expected to cover communities in the 33 LGAs of the state that expressed interest.?
OYCSDA operates in 29 communities in 12 LGAs across the state, namely Egbeda, Ibadan North-East, Ogbomoso North, Ibarapa North, Atiba, Saki West and Ibadan North West. Others are Atisbo, Oyo West, Corelope , Ona-Ora and Ibarapa East LGAs.
The deputy governor of Oyo State, Hon Adeyemi Moses,? who? revealed his? enthusiasm over the project, said,? “Oyo State government is proud to say that the project is impacting positively on the lives of the people and is serving as a veritable source of dividend of democracy.”?
At? Ifesowapo-Oloya community in Egbeda LGA, the construction of a health centre has been completed by OYCSDA.? Adebayo Razak,? an indigene of the community, revealed that the community had never had such an opportunity.? “Before the intervention of OYCSDA, we had a refugee camp clinic, but right now, three classroom blocks have been completed in addition to the health centre.? Since the completion of the health centre, we have been recording 18-20 deliveries of babies on monthly basis and 180-200 numbers of patients attended to”
Razak said that the community needs assistance from the local government. “We need drugs and equipment to enhance the outcome of the health centre.”
The Egbeda council on its part has pledged to supply the community with health workers as well as providing drugs and equipment, claiming that the delay is as a result of political instability in the state.
In the case of Kwara State, the project of the KWCSDA is working in seven sectors; water, education, transport, health, social economic, power and energy, environment and sanitation. The projects are sited in eleven LGAs, namely Oke-Ero, Ifelodun, Edu, Irepodun and Ilorin South. Others are Isin, Oyun, Moro, Ilorin East, Ekiti and Asa.
The Kwara State Commissioner for planning and economic development, Chief Tund Adeoti, said the state government is committed to realizing the objective of the project and has made available the required funds. “The government will continue to partner with the Federal government to further the development in the state,” he said.
The general manager of KWCSDA, Mallam Musa Samaila, explained that in spite of the collaborative effort of the federal government and World Bank to increase access of the poor to social services, the efforts of the local governments were still very poor.
In Gbada Ajegunle community in Ilorin South, the drilling of borehole with 12 fetching points and rehabilitation of a hand pumped borehole has been completed.? Mrs Fatima Dauda, a member of the community said before the intervention of KWCSDA, the entire community had just one well that was dug in 1970. “That was the reason why we chose water project as our priority. In addition to the water project, a health centre has also been completed. We are very grateful to the World Bank and the federal government for this great opportunity,” Dauda explained.
In Igbala community, leprosy settlements in Irekpeodu LGA, installation of electricity polls is ongoing.? One of the health workers in the community, who pleaded anonymity said electricity was a major priority because, according to him,? “this is a leprosy community; we need electricity in the health centre and the entire community to enhance the medical treatment and livelihood of the people.”
However, CSDP has identified illiteracy and high level of poverty as a major challenge in effective implementation of the project. In some communities, the community officials are not able to write or communicate in English, while some other communities find it difficult to contribute the 10% as required of them. In most cases, they end up contributing it through labour.??
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