NAPEP and its core-mandate failure

It has never been a successful programme, with myriads of complaints of lost focus and misapplication of resources that have trailed it.  Recently, NAPEP attracted attention when the Senate questioned officials of the organization over the whereabouts of N12 billion poverty reduction funds. It emerged that while N10 billion was trapped in some failed financial […]

It has never been a successful programme, with myriads of complaints of lost focus and misapplication of resources that have trailed it.
 Recently, NAPEP attracted attention when the Senate questioned officials of the organization over the whereabouts of N12 billion poverty reduction funds. It emerged that while N10 billion was trapped in some failed financial institutions, N150 million meant for the supply of spare parts for NAPEP’s tricycle project was apparently paid to a contractor for work not done. The Senate’s Committee on Public Account also found that the agency paid additional N171 million as customs duties for spare parts that were never supplied. Another N605 million was lost to some operators of the tricycle under the aegis of Keke Riders Association of Nigeria (KRAN). The agency was alleged to have also paid another N1.4billion for projects that have not been verified by the Auditor General of the Federation (AGF).
Representatives of the auditor general told the Senate panel that some of the contracts that the agency had paid for were not verified. The AGF in a query to NAPEP, a copy of which presented to the panel, requested the agency to explain why some 988 tricycles valued at N292 million were yet to be supplied. The AGF specifically asked the agency to account for the shortfall of N700.666 million of the machines not supplied. He put the unit cost of the tricycle at N295,793. In his response, the NAPEP national coordinator, Mukhtar Tafawa Balewa, disclosed that beneficiaries of the intervention fund had failed to remit N700 million revenue to the agency as required. Although, the agency claimed it lacked the structural framework for recovering missing funds, it Tafawa Balewa said that the agency had written to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on how one firm known as Auto Ban Limited made away with the N150 million paid for the supply of spare parts.
These revelations reveal the seamy side of NAPEP’s operations and reinforce public perception of its lack of effectiveness as a tool to tackle poverty. The claim that the alleged fraudulent activities did not happen during the tenure of the present coordinator is immaterial. There must be records documenting who did what, and when.
The Senate’s probe should not stop at drawing attention to the mess in NAPEP, but ensure that the agency is sanitized and repositioned to properly and effectively performe its functions. Relevant anti-corruption agencies should examine the allegations of fraud in the organization in other to fish out the guilty parties or individuals for appropriate punishment. All those who take people-focused projects as avenues for siphoning public funds should be thoroughly dealt with when caught to deter other crooked minds. No one should be spared.
The tendency of regarding programmes aimed at poverty alleviation as avenues to amass wealth should be stopped. The effects of this unwholesome practice are glaring. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) recently put the population of the poor in Nigeria at 70 million people. Because those in charge of poverty alleviation programmes often steal the funds, efforts towards empowering people have never yielded appreciable results. Certainly, the persistent failure of such government interventions calls for the current strategy to be overhauled. To start with, it is important to identify the problem with the implementation. A big challenge that needs to be overcome is the tendency to politicize the programmes. Complaints of marginalization normally trail their execution because beneficiaries are seen as members of the ruling party, when the focus should be on unemployed Nigerians regardless of political affiliation. Politicians should not be allowed to hijack such projects for selfish ends if the goal of improving the lot of the masses is to be achieved. Monitoring the activities of officials entrusted with the task of implementing poverty alleviation programmes to ensure resources allocated are judiciously utilised, is also crucial. Those mandated to oversee such sensitive projects should be credible individuals that are committed to the success of the programme nationwide, not foot-soldiers for politicians.