The COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus Program Project for Nigeria aims to expand access to livelihood support and food security services, and grants for poor and vulnerable households and firms.
To realize its considerable potential and to fulfill the Federal Government’s commitment to lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty over a period of ten (10) years, Nigeria is determined to make tangible progress on multiple fronts, at both the Federal and sub-national levels. In this regard, Nasarawa state has developed the Nasarawa Economic Development Strategy (NEDS), to serve as a compass to guide the State on a path of sustained accelerated growth of the Nasarawa economy and translation to clear improvement in the lives of the citizens, and the achievement of other key development outcomes. Its development is anchored on an appreciation that the State is primed to be an investment powerhouse and economic hub in Nigeria by virtue of its abundant solid mineral resources, strategic location, rich agricultural and tourism potential, and vast land. Despite this potential, legacy challenges as well as the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic constrain the state from attaining the full extent of possibilities, and hamper growth and development efforts.
The scale and severity of the impact of COVID-19 in well-resourced healthcare systems globally, has been beyond anything witnessed in recent history, and its deleterious impact on Nigeria’s economy is unquestionable. Sub-Nationals like Nasarawa state are hit on two fronts. Directly as a result of the pandemic and containment responses, and indirectly due to declining commodity prices, and low economic activity across the globe. Although the state has initiated concerted efforts to improve the resilience of the State to the shock through the development of a COVID-19 Economic Response Plan, significant resourcing gaps remain, which are detrimental to the achievement of the Nasarawa Economic Development Strategy (NEDS) objectives, especially as regards food security, employment and wealth creation.
The federal government, Development Finance Institutions (DFIs), as well as other International Development Partners (IDPs) have reeled out a number of interventions to support the economy. Nigeria COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (NG-CARES) is amongst these, and its implementation requires sub-nationals like Nasarawa State to put a coordinated front and state-level mechanisms/frameworks to ensure that the supports trickle down and are leveraged to support other ongoing efforts by state leadership to manage the threatening economic consequences of the pandemic. While this is being driven by the Nasarawa State Ministry of Finance, Budget, and Economic Planning with technical support from the Nasarawa Investment and Development Agency, and advisory support from the Nasarawa Investment and Economic Advisory Council, there is also the need for the mobilization of community machineries to provide required infrastructure for Human Capital Development on a sustainable basis.
The Community Driven Development (CDD), as an approach to mobilize community effort for development has been particularly successful in Nigeria, especially in promoting access of the poor to social and economic services at the grassroots level. The Nigeria COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (NG-CARES) programme seeks to promote human capital development of the poor and vulnerable people at the grassroots level using a CDD approach. It is within this context that the NG-CARES programme is set to contribute to the Federal Government overall goal of improving access to economic and social services which are critical to the revitalization of the local economy towards a sustainable human development for Nigeria.
The NG-CARES Programme is an emergency operation designed to support budgeted Programme of expenditures and interventions at the State level – targeting existing and newly emerging vulnerable and poor households, agricultural value chains, and Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) affected by the economic crisis.
The Nigeria COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (NG-CARES) Programme is an intervention that is built on the platforms of existing programmes of the State Government. These include State Cash Transfer Unit (SCTU), Community and Social Development Agency (CSDA), State FADAMA Coordinating Office (SFCO) and Public-Workfare (PWF) Unit of State Operations and Coordinating Unit (SOCU). These projects are operational at the Federal and State level. The Programme in the state shall be called the Nasarawa Covid-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus Programme (N-CARES).
N-CARES Programme is designed to restore the livelihoods of the poor and vulnerable, maintaining food security, and facilitating recovery of MSEs are some of the key objectives set out in the Government’s Economic Sustainability Plan (ESP) to respond to the current economic crisis in Nigeria. The GON has proposed ambitious measures to cushion the poor and vulnerable against the negative impact of the crisis. The Nigeria ESP, approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on June 24, 2020, and developed by the Economic Sustainability Committee led by the Vice President, outlines an ambitious NGN 2.3 trillion (US$6 billion) stimulus package to lift the Nigerian economy from the COVID-19 crisis. The key objectives of the ESP are to:
The vision underlying the NG-CARES Programme is to ensure that best practices from existing CDD projects and Social Protection (SP) Programme are sustained and the structures already established are maintained. This is to ensure that poverty reduction strategies adopted by the Federal Government are strengthened with a strong desire and focus on service delivery to the poor and vulnerable people.
In this process, the Federal Government shall provide policy guidance and technical support to the Nasarawa State Government to ensure that all activities are socially inclusive, environmentally sustainable and geared towards creating the opportunity for poor and vulnerable in the communities to take charge of their own development agenda. To achieve this, the Nasarawa State Government shall strengthen existing implementation units and create opportunities for complementarity and synergy among all the implementing entities through the State level coordinating mechanism.
The NG-CARES being an emergency Programme, requires a rapid response implementing teams as well as deep commitment and professionalism of the staff as a major element of success in the implementation of NG-CARES. The Federal Government recognizes that it is desirable to use existing structures to implement the Programme, hence the need for enhanced capacity building, peer learning and experience sharing to ensure seamless implementation and fast disbursement of the credit.
However, experience from implementation at the State level shows that commitment by the implementing agency to operate with very little bureaucratic controls and significant level of authority and decision making are critical to ensuring Programme success. A functional reporting mechanism to the FCSC through the relevant systems at the Federal and State Government levels especially the use of Independent Verification Agents (IVAs), Third Party Monitors and regular reports by the FCSU and SCCU are put in place to ensure transparency in Programme implementation and compliance with the rules.