National Poverty Eradication
Programme (NAPEP) is a 2001 program by the Nigerian
government aiming at poverty
reduction , in particular, reduction of absolute
poverty. It was designed to replace the Poverty
Alleviation Program. NAPEP and
NAPEC coordinate and oversee various other institutions, including ministries,which is to coordinate the poverty-reduction related
activities of all the relevant Ministries, Parastatals and Agencies
and develop plans and guidelines for them to follow with regards to poverty
reduction NAPEP goals include
training youths in vocational trades, to support internship, to support micro-credit, create employment in the automobile industry, and help patients.
The program is seen as an improvement
over the previous Nigerian government poverty-reduction programmes According to a 2008 analysis, the
program has been able to train 130,000 youths and engaged 216,000 people , but
most of the beneficiaries were non-poor.
Upon consideration of the Joda Panel
and Abdullahi Committee Reports, fourteen (14) core poverty alleviation
Ministries were identified as follows:
i. Agriculture and Rural Development
ii. Education
iii. Water Resources
iv. Industry
v. Power and Steel
vi. Employment, Labour and
Productivity
vii. Women Affairs and Youth
Development
viii.Health
ix. Works and Housing
x. Environment
xi. Solid Minerals Development
xii. Science and technology
xiii.Finance, and National Planning Commission
Similarly,
thirty-seven (37) core poverty alleviation institutions,
agencies and programmes were identified. The poverty reduction-realted
activities of the relevant institutions under NAPEP have been classified into
four namely:
(i) Youth Empowerment Scheme (YES) which deals with capacity
acquisition, mandatory attachment, productivity improvement, credit delivery,
technology development and enterprise promotion;
(ii) Rural Infrastructure
development Scheme (RIDS) which deals with the provision of potable and irrigation
water, transport (rural and urban), rural energy and power support;
(iii) Social Welfare Service Scheme
(SOWESS) which deals
with special education, primary healthcare services, establishment and
maintenance of recreational centres, public awareness facilities, youth and
student hostel development, environmental protection facilities, food security
provisions, micro and macro credits delivery, rural telecommunications
facilities, provision of mass transit, and maintenance culture and
(iv) Natural Resource development
and Conservation Scheme (NRDCS) which deals with the harnessing of the agricultural,
water, solid mineral resources, conservation of land and space (beaches,
reclaimed land, etc) particularly for the convenient and effective utilization
by small-scale operators and the immediate community.
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF NAPEP
NAPEP goals include training youths in
vocational trades,
To support internship
To support micro-credit
create employment in the automobile industry
The program is seen as an improvement over the previous
Nigerian government poverty-reduction programmes.According to a 2008 analysis,
the program has been able to train 130,000 youths and engaged 216,000 people ,
but most of the beneficiaries were non-poor.
In effect, the
current poverty eradication programme of the country is social
welfare services and natural resource development, provision of
social welfare services and natural resources development and conservation.
Details about these are provided in the Blueprint for the schemes under the
National Poverty Eradication Programm (as revised in June, 2001). In the attempt
to overcome the inadequacies of provisions programmes, the NAPEP Blueprint has
the following features (Aliu, 2001:12-13):
· It adopts the participatory bottom-up approach in programme implementation
and monitoring;
· It provides for rational framework which lays emphasis on
appropriate and sustainable institutional arrangement;
· It provides for pro-active and affirmative actions deliberate
targeted at women, youths, farmers and the disabled;
· It provides for the participation of all registered political
parties, traditional rulers, and the communities;
· It provides for technology acquisition and development
particularly for agriculture and industry;
· It provides for capacity building for existing skills
acquisition and training centres;
· It provides for the provision of agricultural and industrial
extension services to rural areas;
· It provides for institutional development for marketing of
agricultural and industrial products; and
· It provides for integrated schemes for youth empowerment,
development of infrastructure, provision of social welfare services and
exploitation of natural resources.
What becomes
obvious from a careful consideration of the foregoing and their elaborations in
the blueprint is much of the problems that attended previous efforts have been
sharply focused upon following their identification. Nonetheless, the statement of good intentions and enunciation of
measures towards poverty eradication are only necessary but not sufficient
conditions. The way forward is to recognize the problems and look beyond to
operational and incidental matters that may arise at the level of
implementation vis-à-vis pertinent issues that may not have been adequately
covered in the blue print
