Nigeria

Programme Achievements in 2007

The UNDP 6th CP (2003 – 2007), focused on enhancing good governance and human rights, poverty reduction, energy and environment and the National response to HIV/AIDS. Within this framework, UNDP has been able to play catalytic role to the Nigerian Government to institutionalize and consolidate democratic governance, as well as sustain breakthrough reform agendas. The annual report for 2007 assesses the progress towards results at State and Federal levels under the FGN/UNDP 6th Country Programme of cooperation in the above four thematic areas of support.

In the governance area, UNDP supported the electoral systems, through the management of the Joint Donor Basket Fund (JDBF), and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to effectively organise and manage the elections. It included technical advice on Information Technology, and outreach to the electorate on voter education as well as working through CSOs on voter education, media monitoring and domestic observation of the electoral process. In collaboration with the United Nations Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and CSOs support was provided towards improving gender equity and women’s participation in the electoral process. In the area of Human Rights, the National Human Rights Commission was supported to establish a hotline for receiving reports on human rights violations in the zones. A mechanism for provision of free advisory services for the protection of women’s rights was also established. UNDP support to Public Management, focused on the e-Procurement system in the FCT, as well as the continued support provided to the Ministry of Finance in strengthening the hotline on anticorruption in the Ministry.

The Federal Inland Revenue services (FIRS) was supported to initiate work on the establishment of a tax-payer database which will make a significant contribution to enhancing Nigeria’s fiscal profile. Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) received considerable support for its popular Fix Nigeria Civic Education Campaign on anticorruption. Similar support was provided to the Independent Corrupt Practice commission (ICPC) and the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) to strengthen the fight against corruption, with the overall effect of bringing citizens into the anticorruption campaign and strengthening prevention. Previous UNDP support for due process reforms along with other partners has yielded a procurement law which has led to the establishment of the Bureau for Public Procurement (BPP).

In the area of strengthening fiscal policy, State level training was conducted with Senior Government officials of Ondo, Akwa Ibom and Kano on state-level budgetary policy formulation, management and delivery. Further policy discussions were held with permanent secretaries and technical training was provided for technical officers of the 3 states in the areas of budget management. Two other states have joined and a second round of high level training has been conducted for Senior Government officials. In the area of support to conflict management, the national Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR) and CSOs was supported to put in place conflict prevention mechanisms in several ethically sensitive States. Conflict prevention research and analysis was also undertaken in the Niger Delta and a Local Governance programme implemented to support youth employment in the region.

Within the Poverty reduction practice, UNDP has contributed to strengthening of development planning and management by national and sub-national governments in drafting the NEEDS I & II (Nigeria’s Poverty Reduction Strategy documents). In 2007, support was provided to the National Planning Commission for the financing of technical advisory services for the preparation of NEEDS II. The final draft of NEEDS II has been produced highlighting the vision, development challenges, lessons learnt and opportunities identified from the review of NEEDI (2004 – 2007) and the strategic framework for NEEDSII (2008 – 2011).

Furthermore, through complementary support from UNDP Headquarters, UNDP has facilitated the training of government officials from the Federal and State levels on mainstreaming of HIV/AIDS into poverty reduction strategies as well as on costing of the MDGs. One of the major limitations of NEEDS2 is its inability to accommodate the macroeconomic implications of MDGs investments and to mainstream MDGs into the national development agenda. In line with this observation, the UNDP provided support towards developing a Generic Macroeconomic Framework for Nigeria in a way that supports the development of NEEDS2 and serving as a tool of macroeconomic policy analysis for the country. In the area of Poverty Monitoring, the 2006 MDG Report was finalized and launched, while guidance was provided to 15 States towards the preparation of their MDG reports. In collaboration with the National Planning Commission and the Office of the Special Assistant to the President on MDGs, a Mid-term Review of the progress towards achievement of the MDGs was initiated and should be concluded in the first quarter of 2008.

At the Federal level trainings were organized for staff of National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP) in data collection, analysis and poverty assessment. Furthermore 6 zonal offices of NBS were equipped with ICT equipment. Under SME development, database and monitoring mechanism for SME operators have been established and staff of states’ ministries has been trained on database management system for SME operation. In the context of enhancing partnership with public and private sector institutions, further progress has been achieved with the cooperation agreement between UNDP and Shell/SPDC, which facilitates the implementation of the Niger Delta Local Development Programme (LDP) that focuses on support to the development of effective, responsive and accountable local governance institutions capable of delivering public infrastructure and services using participatory, transparent and gender sensitive planning, monitoring and evaluation procedures. This project is to also promote youth employment in the Niger Delta oil producing areas in the 3 core Niger Delta States of Bayelsa, Delta and Rivers States as well as Ondo State. Further progress has also been recorded in the context of Millennium Project being implemented in collaboration with the Earth Institute of Columbia University and several private sector donors.

In the area of Energy and environment management, government functionaries at federal state and LGA levels were trained in mainstreaming environment in national development agenda as well as on Environmental Policy Guidelines and enforcement. UNDP also supported strengthening national capacity in a number of stand alone projects on building national capacity to manage tourism for sustainable development; strengthening the capacity of the Federal Ministry of Environment, Housing and Urban Development to implement the Biodiversity Enabling Activity; and, institutional capacity to implement the Montreal Protocol. The Energy Commission of Nigeria was supported to develop a web-driven energy database and to provide electricity through solar PVs to five rural areas. Ondo State was supported to train 50 Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the production of briquettes while awareness programmes have been organized to popularize the briquettes technology in the State. Pilot projects to check erosion and flood control were developed in Cross River, Imo, Niger and Ondo States while an integrated model village to check desertification was established in Borno State. Also, activities to improve waste management in the cities of Minna, Lagos and Ibadan were supported with a compost plant fully completed in Minna.

Achievements under the HIV/AIDS programmes included the mainstreaming gender and HIV and AIDS into sectoral plans, NEEDS and SEEDS. Continued support was provided to the 8 core states participating in the UNDP supported HIV and AIDS programme in the production of State Strategic plans. It also included conclusion of a capacity assessment of institutions involved in implementing the Global Fund grants as part of the UNDP focus on “making the money work. Continued technical and financial support was provided to the Nigerian Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM) for Global Fund Grant implementation. Capacity building support continued through the Leadership Development Programme and Community Capacity Enhancement, processes of engagement aimed at empowering actors at the various levels to engage in dialogue that would enable them to take critical decisions regarding the design, implementation, management, monitoring and evaluation of the HIV/AIDS epidemic at State level. Furthermore, support was provided towards the assessment of the impact of HIV and AIDS in Research studies i.e. review of HIV and AIDS legislation, review of impact of HIV and AIDS on social safety nets in selected communities in Nigeria, review of Vulnerability and socio-economic impact of HIV and AIDS on women.