Lagos — For sometime now, officials of the National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP) have been guests of the Senate Committee on Public Accounts trying to explain how the N2.4 billion contract awarded by it for the supply of 5, 000 tricycles (Keke NAPEP) and spare parts in 2003 was executed. This became necessary following an audit query by the Auditor-General of the federation, alleging among others things that the money was spent without due process; the contract never went through competitive bidding; as at August 2008 only 500 units had been supplied; the mandatory 5% VAT and 5% Withholding Tax deductions amounting to N240 million was not made, leading to a loss of revenue by government; N150 million was spent as payment for spare parts that were never supplied; and, that instead of selling the tricycles bought at the rate of N450, 000 each at a 50% discount directly to Nigerians, NAPEP after taking delivery sold them in bulk to another Abuja-based company at 50% discount i.e. at a reduced price of N225, 000 each, thus causing a huge loss of government revenue.

So far NAPEP's defence has been feeble and uncoordinated. From an initial allegation of undue harassment and bullying by the Senators, the Agency went ahead to insist that it needed more time to assemble the necessary documents given that these documents were at its state and zonal offices and that the contract had indeed been partially executed with 4, 012 of the tricycles and spare parts already delivered, while the remaining 988 had arrived at the ports but were mistakenly classified and gazetted by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) as overtime cargo during the congestion of the ports, which occurred not too long ago. But just last week, NAPEP finally admitted that the contract documents were actually missing.

We condemn in its entirety the way and manner in which such a sensitive issue having to do with public funds has been treated by NAPEP and its officials. That this case even came up at all shows our hypocritical attitude towards poverty alleviation in Nigeria. Given that poverty entails the inability to satisfy ones basic needs such as food, clothing and shelter, perhaps due to the lack of income or opportunity to generate income and the inability to change such a situation, it is self evident, in spite of government posturing to the contrary, that perhaps over 70% of Nigerians presently live below poverty level.

Poverty in Nigeria has resulted mainly from political instability, corruption, low industrialization, high unemployment rate, poor infrastructure and weak technology base as a result of which many of the citizens are not fully empowered to actualize their potentials. Of course, poverty does not understand the barriers of race, language, culture, region, ethnic group, educational qualification, religion, sex and age. Therefore sound policies, sufficient funds and meticulous planning is crucial. Above all, it requires political will and commitment to deliver on identified strategies. But this is also where we have failed, considering that ours has been a poverty of ideas, squandered resources, wasted opportunities and misplaced priorities.

Little wonder why none of the several policies and programmes that were implemented in the past ranging from the National Accelerated Food Production Programme (NAFPP), Agricultural Development Projects (ADP), National Directorate of Employment (NDE), Directorate of Food Road and Rural Infrastructure (DFRRI), Peoples Bank of Nigeria (PBN), Family Economic Advancement Programme (FEAP) to Poverty Alleviation Programme (PAP) have had any meaningful impact. Not only were some of the programmes run on ad hoc bases, funds allocated to them often ended up in private pockets. And as a result, rather than alleviate poverty, we always end up elevating it.

We commend the Auditor General of the Federation for discovering this anomaly and now call on the Senate Committee on Public Accounts to do a thorough investigation with a view to getting to the root of the issue. In fact, we challenge the Acting President to see this as a test case of his renewed effort to rid the nation of corruption which incidentally is the biggest impediment to self sustaining and rapid economic growth.

As a matter of fact, poverty alleviation goes beyond mere handouts to citizens, which in the end leaves them in worse situations than they were previously especially once such sources dry up. Quite frankly, the whole concept of poverty allevation intervention and strategy deserves a rethink. Any well meaning poverty alleviation strategy must therefore aim at empowering the citizens to acquire or modernize skills or production processes, which will enable them to earn a living on a more sustainable basis. Having done this, we would have succeeded in finally eradicating poverty, which undoubtedly is the number one enemy of mankind.