₦airaland Forum

Project Proposal : Public Policy And Grass Root Development In Nigeria (A Critical Appraisal Of National Poverty Eradication Programme On Essien Udim L. G. A Of Akwa Ibom State)

Background Of The Study

National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP) is a 2001 program by the Nigerian government aiming at poverty reduction , in particular, reduction of absolute poverty. NAPEP goals include training youths in vocational trades, to support internship, to support micro-credit, create employment in the automobile industry, as well as helping VVF patients.

Grassroots public policy development involves local engagement that is generally contrary to top-down approaches. It occurs when the problem and the solution are defined by the active local parties rather than imposed from outside. Public policy determines whether a new library is built — and where — and how a new clinic for homeless people is funded — or not. It even determines to a large degree who has access to communication services and who has the right to control them. Although it is often "public policy" which silently promotes or discourages certain public actions, the development, maintenance, use, and, often, the very existence of the "public policy" is about as far from "public" as can be imagined.

Poverty in Nigeria remains significant despite high economic growth. Nigeria has one of the world's highest economic growth rates (averaging 7.4% over the last decade), a well-developed economy, and plenty of natural resources such as oil. However, it retains a high level of poverty, with 63% living on less than $1 per day, implying a decline in equity. There have been governmental attempts at poverty alleviation, of which the National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP) and National Poverty Eradication Council (NAPEC) are the most recent ones.

NAPEP and NAPEC coordinate and oversee various other institutions, including ministries, and develop plans and guidelines for them to follow with regards to poverty reduction.The program is seen as an improvement over the previous Nigerian government poverty-reduction programmes. According to a 2008 analysis, the program has been able to train 130,000 youths and engaged 216,000 people , but most of the beneficiaries were non-poor.







Statement Of The Problem
Today, poverty is widely addressed as a global problem. Poverty affects over four billion people. It is important to know that most of the poor people live in the developing worlds of Africa, Asia and Latin America (Gbosi 2004). On the average 45-50 percent of sub- Saharan Africans live below the poverty line. And in Nigeria about 43% of the population was living below the poverty line of N305 a year in 1985 prices, (World Bank, 1996). This figure has been purging upwards to over 60% in recent time. Poverty is indeed a global problem. To this effect the United Nations declared 1996 the international year of eradication of poverty and 1997-2006 a decade of poverty eradication. In pursuance of this target, government in both developed and developing countries became increasingly aware of the poverty problem and several development efforts to alleviate poverty therefore have been embarked upon world-wide. There is a high incidence of poverty in Nigeria today. Especially, the incidence of poverty is very high among the unemployed, the uneducated women and rural dwellers (Gbosi 2004). In 1980, the poverty level was only 28.1% but by 1996 it had jumped to 66.6%. Having been mindful of the implications to the economy, the government needs to make concerted efforts in order to reduce poverty in the country. This is because a high incidence of poverty is not good for the health of a developing country like Nigeria. A review of the economic history of Nigeria shows that successive governments have expressed concern of the need to alleviate poverty in the country leading to the formulation of different "public policies" geared towards poverty alleviation and eradication.

Ironically, public policy development is very unpublic. It's often silent, invisible, and developed "behind the scene." This results in poor public policy that favors narrow interests and blocks progress. As power and wealth become more concentrated, wealthy people and institutions become more and more dominant in the policy arena. When that happens, local and marginalized voices are not heard; people feel disempowered and disengage further from the political process. "Ordinary" people generally stay far from the public policy arena. They feel isolated and are unaware that others are striving towards positive change. When there are public policy successes, they're not often shared with other communities and the people at the grassroots who enter the public policy arena often must needlessly reinvent the wheel.


Objectives Of The Study

Broadly, the objective of this Literature is to examine the impact of the National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP) as a public policy on Nigeria's development. Though this study uses Essien Udim Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State as a case study, the conclusions derived can in some cases be used to generalize on its impact on the whole country. The specific objectives include:

a. To access whether National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP) has achieved its objectives of poverty eradication in Nigeria.

b. To identify areas of deficiencies, problems and failures, and proffer some policy
recommendations based on the findings of this study.

c. To access the level of impact of government policies on rural communities beaming the searchlight on Essien Udim.

Significance Of The Study
To the masses this research work intends to publicise the activities and programmes of NAPEP, and how it has affected the well being of the people of Essien Udim as well as the wwel being of Nigerians as a whole.
To the Government and Policy-makers, it will
identify and reveal the successes and failures, challenges and prospects of NAPEP and affords them the opportunity of designing and implementing a holistic approach, procedures and strategies and better ways of tackling the hydra- headed menace called, poverty.
Also to the students and fellow researchers, it will reveal the operations and the impact of NAPEP on the people. While it serves as an addition to the stock of knowledge, it also serves as a basis for further research.

Abstract
Though the role and impact of Art in sustainable national development have
been orchestrated by scholars for years, yet the actual integration of its dynamics into policy and major interventions globally remains very minimal. This is partly due to government sanctioned systematic negligence as well as perhaps more critically a gross unavailability of detailed identification of individual art concepts and their importance. What this produces is increase challenges in achieving all round impact from art oriented activities especially in developing countries. With an ever increasing profile of national problems, a rising global energy challenge and the threats posed by several other equally critical variables of national development, the requirement for increase innovation, skills and perceptions from a multidisciplinary context aimed at solving these national problems, specifically in relation to arts becomes most imperative. While existing effort focus more on the use of new technology and government to government exchanges, the challenge of educating ordinary people on what role they can play in individually but cooperatively solving critical national problems like climate change mitigation and environmental sustainability is more easily surmounted by Arts than the presumably more effective status quo. By using Art as the Spear tip in engaging this plethora of national problems, there is a conscious refocus on the engagement of emerging communication platforms and creative media. The issues of terrorism, famine, corruption, nuclear proliferation, ssustainabl energy and environmental challenges like climate change currently residing in highly scientific lexicon, beyond the reach of a large percentage of the society, must be brought closer to the ordinary people using a communication apparatus that they are familiar with; Arts. Attention to the strategic need for environmental communication and education initiative with a diffusive and multi-utilitarian capacity to inform and impact people, especially non-literate, rural dwellers for active involvement in environmental protection, antiterrorism, national security and mitigation of eco-threatening activities in our societies is drawn more effectively using arts. Arts should thus begin to receive more ample attention from national policy makers given the increase tempo of eco-threatening disasters, terrorism, systemic corruption as well as a plethora of other social maladies plaguing the nation. This paper articulates and seeks to briefly but concisely elaborate the roles of art through the use of creative media interventions and platforms of community education targeting important national social vices and existential threats.

Introduction
Art is an academic enterprise and a professional practice, when designed diligently within the frame work of national development policies will showcase potential that will add value to the micro and macro economy of Nigeria. Unfortunately, successive governments of the country have shown lack of intellectual capacity and political will to connect arts to the national development framework. This has negatively impacted on the economy and the general aesthetic education in the schools. Every citizen of any country desires the economic buoyancy of his or her nation; vibrant economy that must attest to the well-being of the citizens. The very popular national development indices for an astute professor might be an esoteric jargon to a villager who possibly lacks a meal on the table. A simple explanation of developed economy to an average Nigerian is that there is a job that provides a daily meal on a family table.


Roles Of Visual And Creative Arts In The National Development Process — A Nigerian Perspective.

The contribution of Arts to Nigeria's development can easily be lost in historical details, nonetheless it is important to point out that these roles though mostly masked in clandestine modules are huge, outstanding and quite enormous. Accurately dissecting the roles of individual forms of arts in Nigeria's development, though a surmountable challenge falls under a broad context not easily detailed. In the context of this writing, the Nigerian Entertainment Ecosystem is highlighted with its attendant successes in the nation's national development agenda.

Contributions of Entertainment To Nigeria's Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

In 2014, Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation and leading oil producer became the continent’s largest economy, when the government announced the long-overdue recalculation of her gross domestic product. Nigeria’s revision of GDP data saw the size of the economy jump from $264bn in 2012 to $to $510bn. The exercise was carried out to factor in changes in production and consumption over the last 24 years and showed a significant shift in the structure of the economy, according to the government. The rebasing exercise brought an important information to the limelight; how the role of the entire entertainment sector and in general, arts, had been hugely underrated over the years. The sector was earlier classified amongst ‘other services’ that barely contribute N5bn to the annual GDP. The share has risen, sharply, from its once insignificant status to become the top five contributors to the national GDP. Nigeria’s Entertainment industry, now captured under “Motion pictures, sound recording and music production,” has made a huge leap to about N9trn in size. Today, the Nigerian entertainment industry informally dubbed "Nollywood" is ranked third, globally, in terms of quality of production and gross earnings. Apart from the obvious finanial contribution to the nation's developmenis, this milestone is to a huge extent a source national pride. In a report, titled: ‘WTM Global Trends Report 2012’ , released in London in 2012, by Euromonitor International and Reed Exhibitions Limited, organisers of the World Travel Market (WTM), a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in Africa, as a result of the boom in the local film industry, ‘Nollywood’ was predicted. The report explained that Nigeria’s massive film industry, ‘Nollywood’, is a rising star in Africa’s tourism industry, just as it declared it the world’s second largest film industry, volume-wise, after India’s Bollywood and ahead of the USA’s Hollywood, with more than 2,000 films produced annually. Specifically, the report predicated this GDP growth in Africa to be at 5.2 per cent in 2012 and 2013, while trips/arrivals will rise to 4.5 per cent in 2012 and 4.6 per cent in 2013, adding that intra-regional travels is crucial for the African tourism industry, due to “strong business, linguistic and cultural links” between many countries. The United Nations said, in May 2014, that Nollywood is estimated to employ some 1,000,000 people and had the potential to create 1,000,000 more in the future if properly managed. Its release of about 50 films a week puts it in the same bracket in terms of production with movie-mad India, although revenues — thought to be about $590m a year — are considerably less. In an important executive level recognition of the pivotal role of arts in the national development process, the then Nigerian President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, announced a N3bn cash injection to develop Nollywood, which was considered a fair recognition of the sector’s importance.

Arts As A Public Diplomacy Tool

Writing about the success of Titanic in the United States, Ansen (2001) points out, that one amazing thing about the movie is the great audience which it drew to Americans. Films draw 2% audience, but by February 1988 Titanic had drawn 20% of the world to Americans. Like all megahits, the movie had become a kind of religion. A film like titanic has made ‘Non Americans to recognize the power of America culture more than Americans themselves (Hockings 2007) as Okunna (1999) points out that the dimension of the mania that the film generated was extraordinary. It was the most successful movie ever in Mexico, in Hong Kong, in France, in Brazil. They love it in Slovenia, in South Africa. On the internet the movie website was averaging 4 million hits daily. The impact of Titanic became an avenue for Americans to sell themselves internationally since falling in love with the film is tantamount to falling in love with the culture that produced it.

The Nollywood films locally outsell foreign ones and are also appreciated all over the world (Akpabio, 2007). It was actually the success of the blockbuster, Kenneth Nnebue’s Living in Bondage that brought Nollywood into limelight in 1992. The fact that records show that over seven hundred and fifty thousand copies have been sold further strengthen the arguement that Nollywood enjoys international acceptability. Thus, it is along this reasoning that Adesanya (2004) posits that ‘Nollywood’s appeal has reached far and beyond Nigeria, and its films are watched all over Africa and beyond. Multichoice a cable television business offers channels, devoted to Nigeria films’. In Nigeria, films are channeled though language, and since language has intrinsic relationship with culture, films, therefore reflect the culture of the people in the physical context or country. Wikipedia is of the opinion that films are cultural artifacts created by specific cultures, which reflect those cultures and in turn affect them. The enormous roles of films can never be over emphasized in Nigeria, the roles range from being a popular source of entertainment to a powerful method for educating or indoctrinating citizens. No wonder, Dipio (2007) points out that ‘although set in a particular context, and meant to cater for domestic needs. Nigerian film has become popular diet in video studios and living rooms of many African countries, and beyond. It has traversed national borders to become a money making business ’. From his view, the context reflection and economic benefits of Nigeria film are highly stressed. Hence the need to reiterate the role of Nollywood as a public diplomacy tool critical to Nigeria's development.

Arts As A Direct Source Of Employment And A Tool For Social Engineering

In an era were national umemployment figures are at astronomically high digits, a number of art graduates have found employment in different areas of our economy. Perhaps this is an area we need to consider very critically in evaluating the relevance of art in national development. Art practice has given birth to private art galleries, rise in collectors, auctions, competitions, improvement in the
quality of living of the middle class Nigerian. Art has made Nigeria a significant country in the world culture map as a major contributor to the development of world cicivilisation. Unfortunately it is difficult to fully appreciate this in an intensely materialised society like ours.

From antiquities, we are informed, the artist is an inventor, a product designer and a producer of novel ideas in theory and practice. In today’s free market the creativity of the artist is adequately exploited by the industrialists. The products are fashioned with the intention to appeal to the public sense of beauty. One of the early renaissance artists, Leonardo Da Vinci is known for his prodigious designs, from architecture to aviation, (Bacc, 1978). Today, the artistic and intellectual capabilities of the artist are adopted for the manufacture of variety of products, such as cars, aircrafts, ships, as well as household objects. Many industrial and manufacturing companies have design/creative departments, where creativity flows to impact on the company. The automobiles are seemingly devoid of popular aesthetic form, or artistry, its popularity is more of utility than aesthetics. Nevertheless, it is noteworthy that the artists’ visual impression begets the engineers and technicians ingenuity. That notwithstanding, the aestheticians craft cannot be avoided when one views the interior.


Max Weber defines art as systematic application of knowledge and skill affecting a desired result and an application of skill so acquired and taste developed in production according to aesthetic principles. The economic and aesthetic principles Weber applies in his definition is noteworthy, his opinion confirms man’s unique desires and applications of skills, taste or aesthetics in the production of commodities and other useful products demanded in the markets. The philosophy of Weber is that products of any kind must possess some pleasing forms, an aesthetic quality applied by skilled persons based on the facts that those who acquire the product require certain aesthetic standard. The aesthetic application to productive goods to boost the economy has driven several nations to take stern decision on the inclusion of Fine arts in the school’s curriculum; examples are United States of America and Britain, (Eistner and Ecker, 1966). A good number of people are attracted to several goods as a result of several variables, such as colour, designs patterns and form or motif before making decision on functionality and durability. Therefore, the need for the artist in this direction to boost commerce in any developing economy is necessary and vital. There is no commodity of repute found in the store that the graphic or the commercial artist has not created a design for its label or advertisement, in other words, without the artist a product is incomplete. The current knowledge in information technology and its application in world’s economy cannot be over emphasised, however, its potentials are less explored and advantages under-utilized in Nigeria, nonetheless abused. The information technology is multibillion dollars industry, which involves various businesses. International businesses, culture, the visual arts, performing arts, and academic resources are packaged through this medium. To succeed in the envisaged economic process Nigeria so desires;(demands not only the knowledge of operating the system), but partnership in developing a technology that can produce systems that will be Nigerian culture friendly in order to attract pan African preferential appeal and markets.

Conclusion
The Nigerian economy has waited too long for the needed diversification and improvement of the natural resources and harnessing the inherent talents of the citizens (human resources), in order to put into proper utilization for sustainable development.
The Arts is nature’s heritage, a gift and talent that have made the people unique and sophisticated. The combination of the two resources can no doubt be a strong factor in modern economy. Micropaedia (2003) points out the factors of unemployment of which the arts address. Also, Deregon (2008) suggests that, for a refresher, it is good to address the problem with a fresh outlook, with innovation, creativity and knowledge. From the Nigerian home video to the music industry, a new vista of business has begun that extends beyond the African frontiers: so are the creative and cultural arts have formidable foundation with inherent economic potentials, so are the natural physical wanders of the country at strategic places in the country for tourism, and the literary arts that have won accolades and laureates attract multibillion dollars. When these are packaged, with appropriate legislations, business incentives and wider propaganda will impact on the Nigerian economy and bring about sustainable development. Denial and lip service cannot ameliorate the situation; rather technical committees could be set up with the view to assess the economic values the arts can bring to the Nigerian economy. Conclusively, the paper is of the view, Nigeria possesses enormous human resources, talented and artistic man power; what the country needs is viable and sustainable educational programmes and the strengthening of the arts both the institutional and its practice.


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