In this piece, IFEANYI ONUBA examines the controversies surrounding the World Bank Growth and Employment Project and what the government is doing to address concerns raised by participants on the job creation project
When the idea of the World Bank’s Growth and Employment Project was mooted five years ago, not many had envisaged that the project would be trailed by a lot of controversies.
The Growth and Employment project is implemented by the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment and supported by the World Bank.
The project became effective in July 2013 and it was expected to come to an end on September 7 2018.
The project focused on manufacturing and service sectors, specifically supporting Information Communication Technology, entertainment, tourism and hospitality, light manufacturing (and agro-processing industries) and construction.
But with five years into the implementation of the scheme, investigations by our correspondent revealed that many of the participants in the scheme had yet to be given any grant.
Some of them who spoke to our correspondent in separate interviews confirmed the development.
They said that contrary to promises made by the team handling the project that they would receive their grants within three months after training, many of them have waited up till a year without any communication from the project coordinator.
For instance, one of the participants who spoke to our correspondent on the condition of anonymity said that he registered for the project in 2016 and was trained in the August batch of that year.
He, however, said that after the training, no official of the GEM project had reached out to him.
He said, “The programme has achieved less than 40 per cent impact according to World Bank. But for us, (the impact) it is less than 20 per cent.
“Even the consultants working for GEM know that less than 20 per cent of the grants has been disbursed.
“I was trained (in) August 2016, then applied in 2017 but since then, there has been no communications from the GEM office.
“Some of us that were told to complain have complained through all available channels but no reply.”
Another participant in the scheme told our correspondent that the delay in releasing the grant had affected the plans he had for his business as he could no longer expand his cassava staple business.
He added, “The systematic delay is hurting us. It’s about crippling my business. I was struggling before. Then I decided to have a break and do more research about the upgrade of my business till I get assistance.
“After several months, nothing came. I resumed the cassava staple business again but things are harder now.
“I applied for about N8m. The grant was to develop capacity, get machines and employ eight workers
“Cassava business needs value addition. We in the rural areas wanted to make it a worthwhile business for the farmers as we process high quality and sell to malls and change the way garri is being produced.
“I perceive that this delay is a deliberate act of government to keep the youths unemployed; to waste their valuable lives waiting for ever.”
Another participant in the scheme confided in our correspondent that he had yet to receive any grant more than seven months after completing the training programme for the scheme.
He said, “I have done my training. I have qualified for the grant. They visited my business premises, made all their assessments and they said they were satisfied with what I had done so far and told me they would get back to me.
“Up till now, I have not heard anything from them and it’s been over five months since they made their assessment.
“We that are the participants have created a platform where we usually interact and I can tell you that none of us on that platform have been paid.
“We don’t know what is going on with the project right now because nobody is talking to us.”
A petition by the Deputy Chairman, House Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream), Mr Mark Gbillah had alleged that a minister diverted $35m out of the fund to an illegal Small and Medium Enterprise fund.
The lawmaker had further claimed that barely three months into the GEM project; the minister appointed a former staff of his personal company, African Capital Alliance, Mr. Ugo Ikemba, as the project coordinator in violation of laid down guidelines.
In the petition to the World Bank, the lawmaker accused the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment of attempting to subvert the original purpose of the funds.
According to him, while more than 4,000 SMEs were originally meant to benefit from the funds, the ministry wanted only 25 SMEs to benefit from the funding.
Gbillah also accused the Ministry of Finance of failing to show adequate leadership and proper supervision of the project.
In a letter to the World Bank, Gbillah also accused the lender of colluding with the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment to subvert the programme.
But reacting to the development, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Okechukwu Enelamah, said the GEMS project being implemented by the ministry and sponsored by the World Bank was currently undergoing restructuring.
The minister said that there was no breach of World Bank principles in the implementation of the project.
He explained that all the World Bank’s rules that governed the implementation of the project were adhered to.
He said the appointment of his former member of staff as GEMS project coordinator conformed to conditions of the World Bank for administering the project.
The minister absolved himself of misconduct in handling of the project, noting that the World Bank-sponsored project was undergoing restructuring to cover more people.
He said, “The project was initially being managed as part of the civil service.
“Somebody from the civil service was heading it but the World Bank was not happy.
“It recommended that the offer should be thrown open to good and qualified candidates. The guy that came first wanted to be paid in foreign currency, a request World Bank turned down.
“But the man that came second had a lower set of conditions and he got sound experience and we worked together at Capital Alliance.
“Everything was done transparently and the records are there.”
The minister said there was on-going discussion with the World Bank to extend the programme to cover more people.
“He said the scheme was not a grant but a repayable soft loan to expand existing businesses and capacity building for small scale business operators.
He denied that the rule was skewed to favour a particular set of candidates.
“The implementation is undergoing restructuring, to make sure it’s extended to cover more people,” he added.
He said more than 89,000 Small and Medium Enterprises registered on the project with over 900 Nigerian MSMEs that benefited from grants to implement their business plans.
He said at least 40 local consulting firms had been trained to deliver technical services to MSMEs; while over 750 Nigerian MSMEs have benefited from the services of the project’s trained Business Development Services Providers.
The minister said over 21,000 Nigerian MSMEs have received technical assistance including training offered by Lagos Business School.
He said that the project had supported the entertainment industry by funding two on-line music distribution companies with a view to reducing piracy and improving the income of content developers in the music industry.
He also said that 600 Nigerians were trained in various artisan skills for the construction sector to reduce the influx of foreign skilled labour taking Nigerian jobs.
“It is imperative to add that the project has so far catalysed the creation of over 26,000 jobs in the five sectors of its focus.
“It is pertinent to note that a large amount of GEMS’ intervention that are aimed at creating jobs are not yet matured. Therefore more jobs are expected to be created as this intervention begins to yield results,” he added.
A government official with knowledge of the project told our correspondent in confidence that many of the participants of the scheme misunderstood the intention of the programme when it started.
The official said the project was conceived in a manner that would enable participants to benefit what he described as monetary and non-monetary rewards.
He said the monetary reward was expected to be given in grants to support businesses of those that have achieved a particular milestone based on the criteria for disbursement of the fund.
To qualify for such grant, he said the beneficiary would have met the conditions stipulated for the project.
He said before any fund would be disbursed as grant to any beneficiary, the business of such an individual would have been assessed by project consultants and validated by the Project Implementation Unit under the GEMS project.
He said, “We appreciate the concerns raised on the implementation of the project but the way the project is designed, it is not possible to divert fund.
“We don’t make the payment to the beneficiaries directly. Before any grant is disbursed, it undergoes a rigorous process that would involve an appraisal of the milestones achieved by the participant, validation of that appraisal by the PIU, then application would be made to the World Bank for the release of the grant which would be done through the Ministry of Finance.
“After this, the money would be authorised for payment by the Office of Accountant General of the Federation before funds are released by the Central Bank of Nigeria to the respective banks of each beneficiary with their GEMS account.”
He said not all those that were enrolled in the programme were meant to have cash rewards.
He said while some of them would be given grant, others would be supported with training which is being done in Lagos Business School and other educational centres in some states.
