Why Don’t Successive Govts Continue With SURE-P Model?
Dear Nigerians, why are successive governments not continuing with their predecessors’ plans that seemingly work to alleviate societal issues?
Please, read the below assessment of one such program by “The Sun Newspaper” of Nigeria. This was published on December 19th, 2014, The review was written by one of its journalists, EZEKIEL GREG OMAFUME. It’s unedited.
Enjoy!
“Evaluating SURE-P: 3 years on”
By Our Reporter EZEKIEL GREG OMAFUME on December 19, 2014, Editorial – The Sun Newspaper
Three years ago, Nigeria was in the heated grip of another campaign. There were intense arguments for and against the planned removal of fuel subsidies. By January 2012, organized Labour paralyzed the country with a nationwide strike with echoes of similar work stoppages in the preceding decade when fuel prices increased instead of peremptorily. In the heat of the debate, anyone could have been forgiven for being cynically dismissive of the Federal Government’s insistent pledge of what it would do with its share of the savings from the partial withdrawal of fuel subsidy.
Three years later, it is fair to ask whether the cynics have seen their worst fears materialize. On the contrary, there is growing evidence that the Federal Government is keeping faith with its pledge of judicious use of its accruals arising from the fuel subsidy removal. The evidence is such that even the most implacable critics of the Federal Government cannot deny. Let’s take a sampler from infrastructural development. In 2006, the Federal Government awarded the dualization of the Abuja-Abaji-Lokoja highway. However, the project languished in the doldrums, owing to inadequate geological surveys occasioning poor design and majorly the abject lack of funding, as the annual budget of the Federal Ministry of Works could hardly make any impact. Contractors abandoned their various sites on the Lots. Since 2012, following the launch of the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) by the Federal Government, the story of the project has changed dramatically: the once neglected Abuja-Abaji-Lokoja Expressway has now been transformed into a thriving reality, a beacon of hope for Nigeria's infrastructure development.
Similarly, the Benin-Ore-Shagamu Expressway had collapsed for over two decades, and the remedial patchwork often carried out on that critical arterial road was as laughable as dangerous. SURE-P funding is now making a huge difference that is measurable in the reduced travel times on that route, providing practical benefits to the people. The Benin-Ore part of the Expressway has been reconstructed, while work is proceeding with unwavering determination on the Ore-Shagamu axis. Indeed, the story is the same with the ongoing total reconstruction of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, which has a basket of funding to which SURE-P contributes.
Move over to the Loko-Oweto bridge that connects Nasarawa and Benue states. SURE-P funding is why the project is already more than 65 percent complete, not to mention the hundreds of direct and indirect jobs being created in the process. Furthermore, the SURE-P wallet is one of the assured sources for financing the much-delayed Second Niger Bridge, the authentic ground-breaking ceremony of which was performed this year by President Goodluck Jonathan. After many sorrowful years for commuters, the East-West Road in the South was at about 22 percent completion in early 2012 when SURE-P was created. Within two years of injecting funds, the East-West Road has notched more than 70 percent completion with a new lot added, not to mention overcoming the havoc wreaked by the floods 2012.
The Lagos-Kano rail line representing the Western line of Nigerian Railways is active today with regular commuter and cargo traffic because of massive supplementary funding by SURE-P. The eastern corridor, which runs from Port Harcourt to Maiduguri, has also witnessed tremendous rehabilitation due to SURE-P financing. But one must also add that the brand-new standard gauge rail line from Kaduna-Abuja is a dream come true because SURE-P weighed in with funds. It is also deploying up to N10 billion to support the Abuja light rail project, which is expected to ease intra-city transportation upon completion.
The 21-member committee that manages SURE-P as a unique interventionist agency was established on February 13, 2012, after the smoke cleared from the protests against the partial withdrawal of subsidy. The mandate is the reasonable and transparent application of the Federal Government’s 41 percent share of the subsidy savings. The funds accruing to the Federal Government are domiciled with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). All 36 states of the federation and the 774 local governments are entitled jointly to 54 percent of the subsidy savings. In contrast, the remaining five percent goes to the Ecological Fund, as well as the cost of collection.
SURE-P started receiving funds in July 2012. From then until now, it has received a total of N441 billion, according to Dr. Bright Okogu, Director-General of the Federal Budget Office. The program has an annual allocation of N180 billion, but its receipts so far have been N126 billion (2012), N180 billion (2013), and N135 billion (2014). SURE-P operates through specialized sub-committees and project implementation units embedded in but insulated as much as practicable from the stifling bureaucracy in relevant Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs). SURE-P does not choose or award contracts on behalf of the MDAs. However, projects and programs targeted for funding are evaluated by SURE-P in-house technical staff and outside consultants, where necessary, to certify work done before payment certificates are approved. The payment certificates are then forwarded to the Federal Budget Office, which scrutinizes the certificates before advising the CBN, which credits the contractor’s account. So, you are not likely to find contractors milling around the SURE-P offices, begging for payment. This approach, no doubt, has boosted the confidence of contractors handling the infrastructure projects, hence the rapid milestones they have achieved in so short a time.
SURE-P is focused primarily on critical infrastructure projects and social safety net programs, which directly and positively impact the people. The infrastructure projects include roads, bridges, and railways; the progress report is highlighted in the preceding paragraphs of this piece. On the other hand, the social safety net programs cover mass transit; maternal and child health; community service, women and youth empowerment (incorporating the Graduate Internship Scheme); public works (under the aegis of the Federal Emergency Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA); vocational training, as well as culture and tourism.
Suppose SURE-P can crow about its achievements in infrastructure intervention. In that case, it can grow even louder about the impact of aspects of its social safety net program, which are less visible than roads and bridges. Let us take it for granted that the major works in railways and on roads and bridges are generating jobs. Yet many more jobs are being created while executing the social safety net programs. No fewer than 12,400 youths have maintained 40 priority federal highways nationwide under the FERMA Public Works project. In the same vein, more than 120,000 jobs have been created for the youth, women, and physically challenged across the federation under the Community, Social, Women, and Youth Empowerment program. This is just as thousands of graduates have taken advantage of the Graduate Internship Scheme that prepares them for employment, even as they receive monthly stipends.
The most remarkable is the landmark success of the Maternal and Child Healthcare program. The program is designed to increase the supply of skilled health workers to offer maternal and child health services at the primary health care (PHC) level, undertake infrastructural renovations to PHC centers, raise the supply of essential commodities at PHC facilities with a view to upscaling service delivery, and above all to increase demand for maternal and child health care services in underserved and rural communities by deploying conditional cash transfers. As of August 2014, SURE-P had recruited 11,912 healthcare workers comprised of 2,811 midwives, 3,133 community health extension workers (CHEWs), and 5,966 female village health workers.
Between October 2012 and March 2014, an estimated 766 308 pregnant women received antenatal care services; 106 537 babies were also delivered alive by skilled birth attendants, while 67,363 women accepted modern contraception, according to data supplied by the National Primary Health Care Development Agency. Indeed, Mama Kits and conditional cash transfers are popular among those who patronize the PHC facilities where SURE-P services are available. Cumulatively, the measures and results from the SURE-P maternal and child Health program are helping Nigeria meet Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5 by drastically reducing maternal and newborn mortality and morbidity in the country.
Three years ago, who could have believed that SURE-P's successes were possible? No one can assert that SURE-P is perfect, but it has shown what 41 percent has achieved and what lies ahead. If only we could also tally the aggregate positive showing of states and local governments with their combined 54 percent receipts, we would have a much happier picture that the firm promises of partial subsidy withdrawal are being kept.