Press release number: IFAD 45/01

On the eve of his first official visit to Nigeria
Lennart Båge, President of IFAD:
“Nigeria’s fight against rural poverty merits greater international support”

Rome, 7 December 2001 - Mr. Lennart Båge, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is scheduled to arrive in Abuja Monday (10 December) on a four-day official visit to Nigeria at the invitation of HE Mr. Olusegun Obasanjo, President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. During the visit, President Båge will hold talks with President Obasanjo, HE Mr. Malam Adamu Ciroma, Minister of Finance and HE Mr. Malam Adamu Bello, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development and other senior federal government officials, NGOs and United Nations Agencies in Nigeria. President Båge is also expected to join President Obasanjo in the launching of Nigeria's Rural Development Strategy.

Nigeria, with its young democracy, a population of 125 million people made up of 250 ethnic groups, diverse languages and religious faiths, faces enormous challenges today. As one of the 20 poorest countries in the world, Nigeria has to put up with a worsening poverty situation particularly among the rural communities. About 72% of the population are now classified as poor and more than 35% of the population are living below the US$ 1 per day poverty level. Poverty is particularly widespread in rural areas where 40% of the rural population live below the poverty line.

More that 50% of the population do not have access to safe water and 10% of the population (or 12 million people) are undernourished. Thirty five percent of children under 5 years old are underweight and 42% are stunted compared to 30% and 41% respectively in sub-Sahara Africa. The problems of malnutrition are compounded as more than 5% of the rural population are affected by HIV/AIDS and more that 50 million Nigerians suffer from a combination of protein energy malnutrition, Vitamin A deficiency, iron deficiency anaemia and iodine deficiency diseases. The majority of these are women and children. Currently, the incidence of poverty is 58% in female-headed households, more than double the level of 27% recorded in 1980.

IFAD has over the past 15 years invested more than USD 100 million in rural development projects aimed at eradicating rural poverty. The overwhelming challenges from demographic growth to rising incidence of diseases and epidemics such as HIV/AIDS require even greater involvement by the international community to prevent a worsening situation that carries with it the seeds of social tension and unrest.

On the eve of his departure from Rome to Abuja, President Båge praised the focussed efforts of President Obasanjo's government to address the country's problems of poverty, particularly rural poverty. He said: ''Nigeria's new Rural Development Strategy is highly promising,'' adding that Nigeria's fight against rural poverty merits a greater international support.''

During his visit to Nigeria, IFAD's President will be signing several agreements with the Federal Government of Nigeria including a soft loan agreement of approx. USD 30 million to fund a USD 68.5 million Community-Based Agricultural and Rural Development Program in the eight northern states of Kebbi, Sokoto, Zamfara, Katsina, Kano, Jigawa, Yobe and Borno. Their population was estimated at 29 million in 2000. In these States, 60% are rural poor including 15% considered most vulnerable. The new IFAD-supported projects are expected to help more than 2.5 million of them grow out of poverty. In particular the projects will focus on helping the most vulnerable poor. These include female-headed households and young couples with small children. In northern, Nigeria women remain one of the most disadvantaged groups and gender is an important dimension of rural poverty. Although women play significant roles in rural economic activities they continue to share a high burden of rural poverty because of their vulnerable socio-economic position related to employment, education, nutritional support and health care. Social and religious organizations and the division of labor between men and women exacerbate the disparity. The projects will also address such a disparity through targeted activities, which will bring additional support for poor rural women.

The President of IFAD is also scheduled to carry out a field visit to IFAD-supported rural development project sites in Katsina. Katsina, one of the eight states benefiting from the new project, has already benefited from an earlier IFAD project, the Katsina Agricultural and Community Development Project, which ended in 1998. The project, worth about USD 30 million including IFAD funding of approx. USD 7 million, achieved its general objective of improving the living standards of some 40,000 of the poorest households. It is estimated that 50% of the population in the project locations now have access to potable water, up from 25% in 1990. As one of the major impacts of the project, increased accessibility to potable water has contributed to decreasing the incidence of water borne diseases. For example, the Guinea worm has virtually disappeared due to improved supply of potable water from wells and boreholes and hygiene education.

IFAD intends to enhance its operations in Nigeria involving greater international participation in financing poverty eradication and rural development projects to help the democratic government of Nigeria meet the challenges that lay ahead. Of importance to note is that in order to improve the effectiveness of their portfolios, AfDB, IFAD and the World Bank with FAO have agreed to strengthen their collaboration in the rural sector and concluded that the most efficient and effective approach to ensure concrete rural development is community based. Sustainability will be enhanced through active participation of the programme/project clients in the design, implementation and monitoring of the interventions. This will, amongst other advantages, ensure that more funds actually reach the community at grass roots level and the communities will make sure that the funds received are used judiciously to address their needs. These needs include community infrastructure, such as schools, health facilities, feeder roads and transportation facilities, as well as group and individual income generating activities for agriculture and other non-farm economic activities. The three financing institutions agreed to have a common platform and approach, which should be to expand field interventions to reach the maximum number of rural communities in the shortest possible time. More effective monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of the new initiatives is required given institutional weaknesses and the need to support government efforts to improve governance.

The visit to these project areas will give the President of IFAD and visiting journalists a closer look on rural poverty in the country, particularly the northern states where rural poverty and its potential socio-economic and health calamities need urgent attention. The poverty alleviation and rural development assistance strategy of IFAD is being addressed through: (i) a food security and commodity approach as exemplified by the Cassava Multiplication Programme (CMP) and the recent Roots and Tubers Expansion Programme (RTEP); (ii) a sub-sectoral and natural resource management approach represented by the artisanal fisheries development project; and, (iii) an area-based community demand-driven rural development approach in Sokoto and Katsina States. All projects focus on the needs of rural poor communities including smallholder farmers and artisanal fishermen, the rural landless and women. These projects are contributing to: commodity development and food security (a threefold increase in national production of cassava and a halt in the decline of artisanal fisheries); technology generation and transfer (treadle pump, cassava processing, fish processing); successful approaches to rural and community development targeting women and emphasizing training, access to rural financial services and rural infrastructure; soil conservation and environmental management; and demand-driven and participatory approaches to provision of agricultural support services.

President Båge is also expected to deliver to President Obasanjo an official invitation to inaugurate and address the Funds annual Governing Council Session in Rome on 20 February 2002. The Council, regularly attended by ministers and high level representatives of the Fund's 180 member states, is the Fund's highest assembly and decision making body. Nigeria's Federal Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development will also be invited to a special launching of IFAD's Poverty Report and IFAD's Strategy in West and Central Africa Report in Dakar, Senegal on 14-15 January 2001.

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IFAD is a specialised agency of the United Nations with the specific mandate of combating hunger and poverty in the most disadvantaged regions of the world. Since 1978 IFAD has financed 584 projects in 114 recipient countries and in the West Bank and Gaza for a total commitment of approximately USD 7.2 billion in loans and grants. Through these projects, about 250 million rural people have had a chance to move out of poverty. IFAD makes the greater part of its resources available to low-income countries on very favourable terms, with up to 40 years for repayment and including a grace period of up to ten years and a service charge of 0.75% per year.