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Nigeria: Boosting Rural Capacity for Economic Growth
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This Day (Lagos)
ANALYSIS
20 November 2007
Posted to the web 21 November 2007
Lagos
Statistics reveal that about 70 percent of Nigerians live in rural areas and suburbs, with thousands migrating to the urban centres daily in search of a better livelihood. Abimbola Akosile examines a new scheme called the Village Economic Development Solutions (VEDS), unveiled recently by the National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP; and its potential impact on rural-urban drift
According to the United Nations Population Fund, the cities of Africa and Asia will double in population between 2000 and 2030, and the poor will continue to flow into shanty-towns. Cities in the developing world are feeling the strain of all their new residents.
Worldwide, the number of slum dwellers has grown from 715 million in 1990 to roughly a billion today, and it's expected to hit 1.4 billion by 2020.
Despite the often-squalid conditions, migrants keep streaming in for a reason. While urban poverty is more concentrated, more visible, and hence seemingly more desperate than the rural variety, migration into cities appears to reduce poverty in poor countries.
According to the UN's 'State of World Population 2007' report, since the 1990s, perhaps 10 percent of the poverty reduction achieved by developing countries has been the result of migration from the countryside.
Nigeria is no exception, with thousands daily thronging urban centres like Lagos and Abuja in search of work and better means of survival. Despite billions being pumped by the Federal Government into the agricultural sector, various factors like basic infrastructure including good roads, portable water, and access to markets are forcing rural dwellers to move to the cities.
A cursory look at majority of rural towns in Nigeria reveals a sharp decline in the population of youths, who previously formed the core of the agricultural labour force. The reason is not far-fetched, with the quest for white or blue-collar (or any collar) jobs in the towns uppermost in their minds.
Analysts have described migration to urban areas as a fallout of the neglect of the hinterland; in which case many people who are currently squatting in urban slums are ready to go back to their villages if any improvement occurs there.
Experts also claim Small and Medium-scale Enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria can reduce operational costs by decreasing procurement, material and transactional costs by adapting technology, which translates to lower prices for intermediate and finished goods.
With technology, SMEs can use more information; facilitate global connectivity, improving the value of their output, leading to new ways of creating and delivering products and services on a global scale, they have said.
NAPEP Interventions
Dr. Magnus Kpakol, popularly known as 'Chief Representative of the poor on behalf of Mr. President' was recently re-appointed as the National Coordinator of National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP).
According to him, nobody is tied to poverty forever, and NAPEP intends to give the poor a voice to participate in the economic development process of the nation.
Village Solutions Strategy
On October 9, NAPEP unveiled a new strategy to cope with and eventually overcome poverty in Nigeria. Kpakol, who spoke to media practitioners in Lagos quoted various statistics to back up his approach.
The new strategy, called the Village Economic Develop-ment Solutions (VEDS) reveals empowerment as the antidote to poverty; and that people are always poor because they lack tools and capacity.
The VEDS scheme was also formally launched by President Umaru Yar'Adua on October 17 on the global commemoration of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.
The Village solutions is a community driven development programme designed by the Economic Growth and Development Centre (EGDC) and adopted by NAPEP).
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It is a home-grown poverty eradication model for partnership with all tiers of government and the development partners; where the people are encouraged to lead community efforts at modernising their villages and promoting income generating activities for the masses.
VEDS, when fully implemented by all stakeholders, is expected to lead to modernisation of villages, target community development, ginger actual communal participation in economic and other social development; spur income generating activities in local villages; and ensure better appreciation of government's role in community development and modernisation.
The target of the National Poverty Eradication Programme is to completely wipe out poverty from Nigeria by the year 2010. The formulators of the programme have identified three stages to the attainment of this ambitious target.
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