Abstract
The study is a comparative analysis of the impact of NPOWER and SURE-P in Nigeria: A study of Rivers State. Survey design was used in this study to generate data. A sample of 400 respondent youths was studied. After going through them 381 copies (i.e. 95.25% response rate) were found useful for the data analysis. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse data in this study. Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation Co-efficient (r) was used to test the hypotheses. The study found that the major N-Power programmes used towards Poverty alleviation in Rivers State included: N-Power Teach, N-Power Build, N-Power Creative, N-Power Agro, N-Power Tech Software N-Power Tax, N-Power Health and N-Power Tech Hardware. The study revealed that N-Power Programmes’ beneficiaries were mainly university and polytechnic graduates. The study found that the major factors that affected the implementation of N-Power programmes included: Insufficient information, non-payment of stipend to participants as at when due, bribery and corruption, wrong bank verification number (BVN), overbearing hands of politicians in the programme etc. It is evident and conclusive that: There is significant relationship between N-Power programmes and poverty alleviation in Rivers State and there is significant relationship between N-Power programmes and empowerment of the youths in Rivers State. The study therefore recommends that the authorities concerned should promote rural development through N-Power programmes. Also, government at all levels should reactivate moribund industries and enterprises and expand the horizon of N-Power programmes in that direction
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the study
Poverty and unemployment are two evils that weigh on the Nigerian state at present. Reports from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) (2005) show that “the poor population has steadily increased from 17.7 million in 1988 to 66.7 million in 2004.” In 2010, the National Bureau of Statistics reported that 60.9% of Nigerians lived in poverty. The World Poverty Ratchet in 2018 declared that Nigeria had adopted the despicable position of being the world capital of poverty after having overtaken India, with about 86.9 million people in extreme poverty (Vanguard, 2019). To corroborate this statement, the National Bureau of Statistics in the National Base Survey of 2012 postulates that more than half of Nigeria’s young population in the country is unemployed.
Poverty and the unemployment rate continue to rise vertically, resulting in social problems of more monumental and complex proportions, trying to challenge popular government interventions to improve them. Since 1999, each government has had its signature, reducing poverty or reducing poverty, whatever it is called. The government of President Olesegun Aremu Obasanjo (1999-2007) launched the National Program for the Eradication of Poverty (NAPEP), which aims to reduce poverty. According to Anyebe (2015), NAPEP was established in 2010 as the lead agency of the federal government to eradicate extreme poverty in Nigeria. The main program of this program includes the Youth Empowerment Program and the National Resource Conservation and Development Program. The author also revealed that, despite the enormous financial implications of these programs, poverty and youth unemployment persisted.
Subsidy reinvestment program (SURE P), designed and implemented by President Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan (2012-2014). The main SURE-P program for poverty reduction includes: Traffic System, Vocational Training Program and Community Service / Employment of Women and Youth (CSWYE). This initiative has been severely criticized for its lack of transparency and corruption on a large scale. Abu (2015), in a study on the program of reinvestment of subsidies and job creation in Nigeria (2012-2014), concluded that the program had not left unemployed the creation of employment in Nigeria. Youth and poverty on a large scale in the country remained high.
The response of several administrators to the problems of poverty seems to have been largely ad hoc and uncoordinated. A recent survey on policies and interventions describes 28 federal projects and programs focused on poverty reduction. Several state governments have also launched programs to reduce poverty.
With the advent of a democratic government in 1999, measures were adopted to rationalize institutions related to poverty, review previous programs against poverty and harmonize sectoral efforts. Although none of these programs was completely unfounded, none of them had a significant positive effect, lasting or lasting.
Hence the imperative need to critically analyze several poverty reduction programs and their achievements in the development of our community. It is hoped that the results of this study will provide useful strategies that, once adopted, would have the impact of poverty alleviation programs on community development.
The administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has designed and implemented the ongoing National Social Investment Program (NSIP) as a strategy to combat poverty and unemployment. The NSIP program was created to allow citizens to come out of the double scourge of poverty and unemployment mentioned above through capacity building, investment and direct financial support.
1.2 Problem statement
Poverty and unemployment continue to be one of the most serious social problems in Nigeria today. Available data from NBS (2010) show that more than half of the Nigerian population currently lives in poverty and remains a worrying phenomenon that requires urgent national attention. This is not related to the fact that the poverty rate persists and that it has remained unchanged in society, leaving room for other social vices such as armed robbery, robbery, etc. As corroborated by Olajide and Diah (2017). Be linked to the growing poverty rate.
To solve this problem, successive governments have implemented a series of measures, including NAPEP, SURE-P and currently the NSIP initiative. The NSIP initiative addresses a range of social issues such as poverty reduction, unemployment and increased school enrollment. The N-power initiative, a component of the job creation policy, aims to reduce poverty and unemployment and is aimed at young Nigerians. However, the creation of a policy and its implementation to achieve the stated objectives seem to be mutually exclusive in the Nigerian context, as successive governments strive to contain unsustainable poverty and monumental unemployment aimed at alleviating the precarious situation of young people Nigerians For the purpose of the fiasco, the quality of life has been ended as a result of the abysmal and porous implementation of such programs.
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of the N-power system and SURE P in three key areas: job creation, economic well-being and improvement of skills / employment.
1.3 Purpose of the study
The following research objectives were formulated to guide the study
- Does the N – Power scheme lead to employment generation?
- To what extent does the N – Power scheme significantly affects economic well being of beneficiaries? And
- Where there exist any significant relationship between the N – Power scheme and skill – job enhancement?
1.4 Significance of the study
The result of this study will not doubt to a large extent expose the weaknesses and achievements of past poverty alleviation programmes.
Equally, it would provide basis for effective guidance for the facilitators to modify/reinforce their attitude towards achieving the set goals for the programmes put in place.
It is also believed that the result of this study will avail the government the opportunity to study past attempts at alleviating poverty to see where their mistakes lies and then devise a means for progress in this regard
1.5 Study hypothesis
HO1; There is no significant deference between the N- Power Scheme and SURE P scheme in employment generation
HO2; There is no significant relationship between N- Power Scheme and SURE P scheme in the economic well being of beneficiaries and
HO3: There is no significant relationship between the N- Power Scheme and SURE P scheme in skill – job enhancement
1.6 Scope and Limitations of the Study
The study scope is limited to a comparative analysis of the impact of N POWER And SURE-P in Lagos state. Limitation faced by the research was limited time and financial constraint
1.7 Organisation of study
The study is grouped into five chapters. This chapter being the first gives an introduction to the study. Chapter two gives a review of the related literature. Chapter three presents the research methodology; chapter four presents the data analysis as well as interpretation and discussion of the results. Chapter five gives a summary of findings and recommendations.
1.8 Definition of terms
N-Power: N-Power is an integrative programme set by government that provide a platform where most Nigerians can access skills acquisition and development. At this time however, the initial modular programmes in N-Power are designed for Nigerian citizens between the ages of 18 and 35.
Youth: Youth is the time of life between childhood and adulthood (maturity). Youths are also regarded as those persons between the ages of 18 and 35 years(Federal Ministry of Youth Development, 2009).
Youth Empowerment: Youth empowerment is an attitudinal, structural, and cultural process whereby young people gain the ability, authority, and agency to make decisions and implement change in their own lives (Obadan, 2017).
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