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USAID Information:
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Nigeria
The Development Challenge: Following on the 1999 transition from military dictatorship to elected government, Nigeria successfully concluded a second, largely peaceful round of democratic elections in 2003, leading to the first civilian to civilian electoral transition in 43 years of independence. In the opening months of his second term in office, President Obasanjo has taken a number of positive steps to improve economic and social conditions for Nigeria's citizens, address corruption, improve service provision, and to fight HIV/AIDS. Despite these efforts, public support for and trust in the current administration in Nigeria is weakening. While more than two-thirds of Nigerians continue to concur that democracy is preferable to any other form of government, their trust in institutions and leaders declined significantly in 2003 and the President's approval rating dipped from 72% to 58%. Improved performance in economic management, health and education service delivery, conflict resolution, and ensuring household food security is urgently needed to rebuild public confidence in government.
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Please note: All documents are in pdf format |
With 70% of the Nigerian population living in poverty on less than a dollar a day, the need for a national poverty reduction strategy is clear. One of the biggest disappointments of the first Obasanjo government was its failure to develop such a strategy or to engage the wider Nigerian society in the process. The new administration has taken rapid and proactive steps to rectify this failure by putting in place the framework of a National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS), with poverty reduction as one of its core goals. The NEEDS process is envisioned as open and participatory, inviting the contributions of a broad array of stakeholders, and the President and his new economic team appear committed to making it work. Agriculture and natural resource management are the principal livelihood strategies of the rural poor, and sound investments in these sectors is key to implementing NEEDS, strengthening the rural economy, reducing poverty, and building strong democratic institutions at the community level. Completion of a viable program for improving the welfare of the majority of Nigerians will be an important milestone in the country's development.
Any poverty reduction strategy must also address the status of Nigeria's social indicators. The preliminary results of the 2003 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) and other data sources confirm the poor state of basic indicators of social well-being in Nigeria. The under-five mortality rate stands at 203 per 1,000, meaning that one out of every five Nigerian children dies before reaching his or her fifth birthday. Many of these deaths are from causes that are largely preventable. Only 12% of Nigerian children in their second year of life have been completely immunized against common childhood diseases, and almost 40% of young children suffer chronic undernutrition. The HIV/AIDS epidemic has claimed an estimated 1.5 million lives, and at least four million Nigerians are currently living with the virus. Although legislation authorizing a program of Universal Basic Education has been passed by the National Assembly, resources to put the infrastructure for the program in place are inadequate. Half of Nigerian adults are illiterate and only 55% of eligible children currently attend primary school. Pervasive poverty and the poor educational and health status of Nigerian children and adults are the key development challenges for the country.
Primary U. S. national interests in Nigeria are reinforcing democracy and good governance, combating international crime and trafficking in persons, promoting global economic growth and stability, battling HIV/AIDS, and preventing regional conflict. As the most populous sub-Saharan African nation and as an established leader in regional initiatives, including the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), Nigeria's prosperity and stability are essential to growth and stability in West Africa and more generally to the continent as a whole. Nigeria also supplies about 10% of U. S. crude oil requirements, is our second-largest trading partner in Africa, and is the recipient of significant U.S. foreign investment.
The USAID Program: USAID/Nigeria's Country Strategic Plan (CSP) 2004-2009 was approved in Washington in September 2003. The new strategy builds on results achieved under the previous Transition Strategy that covered the period 1999-2003. The four new Strategic Objectives that comprise the new CSP were designed to help Nigeria address the core development challenges that the country faces.
USAID's democracy and governance Strategic Objective will build the capacity of civil society to demand accountable government, and selected government institutions to operate more openly and transparently. The program will also support public sector and civil society efforts to respond to and manage conflict. The new Strategic Objective addressing agriculture, economic growth and the environment will use environmentally-sustainable technologies to increase the productivity of selected commodities, including cassava and cowpeas, and will introduce new value-added commodities and products. The program will also build a more commercial and competitive orientation among farmers and small entrepreneurs, increase their access to financial services and products, and improve the policy environment. Particular attention will be given to improving agricultural policy and the budget process. In the social sectors, USAID will focus on issues of access and demand for quality basic education and health care, and will build a more supportive enabling environment for service delivery at community, state, and national levels. Because there are powerful, mutually-reinforcing linkages between health and education-related behaviors, programs in reproductive health and family planning, child survival and basic education will be implemented in a strategically integrated fashion wherever feasible and practical.
Nigeria is a focus country under the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). All proposed HIV/AIDS activities are being integrated into PEPFAR and are subject to the approval of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator. Additional funding from the Global HIV/AIDS Initiative account is anticipated for both FY 2004 and FY 2005. USAID/Nigeria has developed a stand-alone HIV/AIDS Strategic Objective that will expand HIV/AIDS programming significantly to respond to the initiative. In collaboration with the government of Nigeria and other USG partners, the program will provide treatment for HIV/AIDS patients and HIV-positive pregnant women, behavior-change programs for youth and other at-risk populations emphasizing prevention, including abstinence, delayed sexual debut, fidelity, and condom use, as appropriate, and care and support for people living with HIV/AIDS, orphans and vulnerable children.
Other Program Elements: USAID partners in the West African region and in Washington support programs in Nigeria that complement the Mission's objectives. The West Africa Regional Program (WARP) implements regional trade capacity, business linkages, infrastructure (including oil pipeline and power grid development) and technology transfer activities that benefit Nigeria. Technical and financial support from the Office of Microenterprise Development has enabled the Lift Above Poverty Organization, a microfinance institution based in Edo state, to inaugurate six new branches and to increase the number of borrowers and lenders it serves from 3,000 to 20,000. This exciting development reinforces the Mission's efforts to make scarce financial services and products more widely available, especially in rural areas of Nigeria. The country also benefits from collaborative research programs and university linkages programs managed from Washington.
Other Donors: USAID remains the largest bilateral donor in Nigeria. The British Department for International Development (DFID) also implements a large bilateral program. Since FY 2000, active World Bank lending in Nigeria stands at approximately $900 million, with an additional $450 million in the pipeline. Encouragingly, the International Monetary Fund will reinstate permanent representation to Nigeria by the beginning of 2004, and several other donors, most notably Canada, are planning to expand their programs. Donor coordination is strong and USAID has joined forces with both bilateral and multilateral partners to combat polio, support behavior change, enhance food security, and promote basic education, good governance and conflict mitigation.
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