The Center for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) has called on Nigerian Governments to establish a transparent governance system, effective targeting and measurable outcomes in the implementation of the recently launched Social Intervention Programmes.
This, the Center said, translates the gains from macroeconomic reforms into tangible improvements in welfare, stronger productivity and a broader sharing of economic prosperity.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO), of the Center Dr. Muda Yusuf, in a policy brief lauded the Federal Government’s newly launched Social Intervention Programmes, which is supported by the World Bank, describing it as a timely and commendable policy initiative.
The programme comprises five flagship interventions: Nigeria Community Action for Resilience and Economic Stimulus Additional Financing (NG-CARES AF), Solutions for Internally Displaced and Host Communities Programme (SOLID), and the three Human Capital Opportunities for Prosperity and Equity (HOPE) programmes-HOPE-GOV, HOPE-PHC and HOPE-EDU. Taken together, they signal an important shift in the reform agenda from restoring macro-economic stability to ensuring that the benefits of reform are reflected in improved welfare, greater inclusion and shared prosperity.
“There is a broad consensus that the administration’s economic reforms have substantially strengthened macroeconomic fundamentals,” he said. External reserves have strengthened and investor confidence has improved, fiscal transparency has deepened, exchange-rate stability has improved. But macroeconomic stability, while necessary, is not enough. The ultimate test of any reform programme is whether it can raise living standards by reducing inflation, increasing productivity, strengthening jobs and pushing up household incomes.
Read Also: Nigerian Navy Strengthens Partnership With Women Journalists
In this context, the Social Intervention Programme acquires strategic importance. Besides offering temporary relief to vulnerable households, it buttresses the social legitimacy of the reform process by demonstrating that economic reforms are ultimately geared towards improving citizens’ welfare and not just about delivering favourable macroeconomic indicators.
Reforms are more likely to gain lasting public support if their benefits are visible, inclusive and widely shared. Social protection thus enhances not only social welfare but also the political credibility and sustainability of the reform agenda.
The programme also underlines an important policy principle: macroeconomic stability is a means to an end, not an end in itself. Its end objective is inclusive growth, productive employment, poverty reduction and shared prosperity. It is commendable that the government is aware of this imperative.
But the success of the initiative will depend on implementation. The design of the program must consider Nigeria’s institutional realities, avoid leakages and political capture, and ensure that support reaches the intended beneficiaries efficiently, transparently, and at scale. International development models should be contextualised and not replicated without adaptation to local conditions.
It cannot be overemphasized how important it is to contextualise social interventions within a broader structural reform agenda.
Cash transfers and programmes related to them can alleviate the immediate social costs of adjustment, but they cannot substitute for reforms that address the structural causes of poverty.
He said ‘Insecurity, high food inflation, weak agricultural productivity, inadequate infrastructure and elevated production costs remain fundamental constraints to inclusive growth. Sustainable poverty reduction depends on increasing productive employment and improving economic competitiveness.
Thus social protection and structural reforms should be seen as complementary policy instruments.
Effective social interventions cushion vulnerable households in the process of economic adjustment, while structural reforms lay the groundwork for higher productivity, stronger private investment, sustainable income growth and durable poverty reduction.
