By Eric Teniola

A lot has been said about the Steve Oronsaye Report. I doubt whether President Muhammadu Buhari will implement any part of that report before handing over on May 29, 2023. 

A lot too has been said about the report on the 2014 National Conference but not much has been said on the 1999 Ahmed Joda’s Report on Streamlining and Rationalisation of Poverty Alleviation Institutions and Agencies. The Ahmed Joda Report is equally as important as the Steve Oronsaye Report. 

The Ahmed Joda Panel was set up in June 1999 by President Olusegun Obasanjo. The Panel was charged with the responsibility of reviewing factors responsible for ineffective and inefficient performance of existing establishments and making recommendations that will ensure government’s success in executing programmes to eradicate poverty and raise the standard of living of Nigerians. 

The Chairman of the Panel was Alhaji Ahmed Joda (February 13, 1930-13 August 2021). He was a long-time friend of President Obasanjo. He had his education at the Yola Elementary School; Yola Middle School; Kaduna College, 1945-1948; and Pitman’s College, London, 1954-1956. He joined Nigerian Broadcasting Service, 1956-1960; was senior assistant secretary, later Permanent Secretary, Northern Nigerian Public Service, 1962-1967 and Permanent Secretary, Federal Civil Service, 1967-1978. 

The panel was inaugurated on July 22, 1999 by then Secretary to the Government of Federation, Chief Ufot Ekaette(1939-2019). Other members of the panel were Mrs Funlayo Adebo-Kiencke, Dr Attahiru Jega, Chike Madueke, Dr. Peter Ogbang, Mallam Oumar Shittien and Alhaji Adamu Yakubu, while Dr. Abdullahi Aliyu was the Secretary to the panel. 

The resource persons that helped the panel were Dr Magaji B. Mahmoud, Dr. (Mrs) Evelyn Onyeozili, Dr. M.S. Kallah, Dr. Abubakar Lamorde, Dr. Ephraim Madu, Engr. A. Liman, Willy Achukwu, Hajiya Talatu Bashir, Chief (Mrs) Bisi Ogunleye, Mr. Olubunmi Adetunmbi, Prince Lekan Fadina and Mr. S. O. Eloho of the National Planning Commission.

The next President must take a look at the panel’s report on Streamlining and Rationalisation of Poverty Alleviation Institutions and Agencies. 

The panel has identified Ministries and 18 Institutions/Agencies that have mandate directly on poverty alleviation.  It has also identified some other institutions that complement the activities of the core poverty alleviation agencies. 

In discharging the responsibility entrusted to it, the panel used various strategies of data gathering, which include literature review, courtesy calls on state governors, discussions with officials of state governments; and project verification visits to states. They also include dialogue with non-Governmental Organisations, NGOs, and International Donor Agencies, IDAs, and a parley with Chief Executives of Federal Government’s poverty alleviation institutions. 

The panel recommended that the ultimate goal of government in dealing with the problem of poverty in Nigeria should be the eradication of absolute poverty in Nigeria, which is achievable, and has been promoted by the United Nations since the World Social Summit in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1995. In this regard, the panel recommended establishment of an appropriate machinery for coordinating the activities of all agencies as well as promoting complementation between the activities of the federal and state governments, all with a view to achieving the goal of eradicating absolute poverty.  I also doubt whether the President will implement any part of that report before May 29, 2023. 

The 2014 National Conference was inaugurated by President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan on March 17, 2014 in Abuja, Nigeria. The conference was headed by retired Chief Justice Idris Legbo Kutigi from Lavun Local Government Area of Niger State in the Middle-Belt Region of Nigeria. Other principal officers were the Vice Chairman, Professor Bolaji Akinyemi who is from Ilesa, Osun State in the South-West Region of Nigeria, while the Secretary was Dr Valerie Azinge, SAN, from Ukehi near Nsukka in Enugu State in the South-East Region of Nigeria. Following a plenary session that lasted for weeks, the conference was broken into 20 committees that included Public Finance and Revenue, among others.

All 20 committees indeed submitted their reports and they deliberated upon at the conference. The main committees were: Devolution of Power Committee, Political Restructuring and Forms of Government National Security; Environment; Politics and Governance; Law,Judiciary,Human Rights and Legal Reform; Social Welfare; Transportation; Agriculture; Society, Labour and Sports; Public Service; Electoral Matters, Foreign Policy and Diaspora Matters, Land Tenure Matters and National Boundary. Trade and Investment Committee, Energy; Religion; Public Finance and Revenue Generation, Science, Technology and Development Immigration.

Justice Idris Legbo Kutigi (December 31, 1939-21 October, 2018) had his education at the Elementary School, Kutigi, 1946-1951, Middle School Bida, 1952-1953, Provincial Secondary School, Bida, 1954-1959, Government College, Zaria, 1960-1961, Institute of Administration, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, 1962-1963, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, England, 1963-1964, Inns of Court School of Law, London, 1963-1965, Gibson and Weldon College of Law, London, 1964-1965.

To be concluded…