A policy analyst and public affairs commentator, Deolu Oyebode, has called for greater transparency and proper data management in the implementation of the Federal Government’s HOPE-SP programme, warning that past poverty intervention schemes were undermined by political interference and poor identification of beneficiaries.
Oyebode made the remarks on Monday while speaking on Adamimogo 105.1FM’s current affairs programme, Inside Scoop.
He said the success of the $1 billion HOPE-SP initiative should not be judged by its name or branding but by whether it can provide sustainable economic empowerment and withstand the challenges that affected similar government interventions in the past.
According to him, Nigeria has implemented several poverty alleviation programmes since the 1980s, but many failed to achieve their intended objectives because of politicisation, weak monitoring and the absence of reliable data.
He cited the Better Life for Rural Women programme introduced during the military administration of Ibrahim Babangida, the Family Support Programme under Sani Abacha, the National Poverty Eradication Programme, NAPEP, and the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme, SURE-P, among others.
Oyebode also referenced interventions introduced during the Muhammadu Buhari administration, including TraderMoni, FarmerMoni and MarketMoni, as well as COVID-19 palliatives.
He questioned how the Federal Government could assure Nigerians that the new HOPE-SP programme would be different from previous interventions, particularly amid claims that about N600 billion had already been distributed to 10 million households over the past three years.
According to him, the government needed to provide verifiable information on previous beneficiaries and demonstrate how the new programme would prevent duplication and exclusion of the genuinely vulnerable.
“Are the people who are assessing these funds the right persons to assess?” Oyebode asked, stressing that some people who were already earning salaries had allegedly benefited from previous intervention programmes.
He, however, acknowledged that several federal interventions had produced identifiable beneficiaries, including student loan recipients, healthcare workers, beneficiaries of school feeding programmes and farmers who accessed government-supported facilities.
Oyebode said the major challenge was not necessarily the absence of beneficiaries but the inability to properly identify and reconcile them.
He described the absence of a reliable national database as one of Nigeria’s major development challenges, saying it affects economic planning, budgeting and national security.
The analyst welcomed efforts to establish a more integrated identification and address system, particularly through the use of the National Identification Number, Bank Verification Number and other forms of digital identification.
He said a properly integrated database would enable the government to know who it was planning for, identify genuine beneficiaries and track the movement of public funds.
Oyebode also linked the development of a reliable address system to Nigeria’s planned postcode expansion, saying the ability to connect individuals to verified addresses would strengthen governance and improve the delivery of public services.
He argued that Nigeria should ultimately have a single, interoperable identity system capable of connecting an individual’s financial, residential and other relevant government records without unnecessary duplication.
He also mentioned that stronger data systems would also improve the fight against financial crimes by making it easier for authorities to trace transactions.
“Money has legs. Money makes noise. There is no way money is passing; you can trace money,” he said, arguing that financial trails could provide investigators with important leads in tackling crime.
Oyebode said the Federal Government was moving in the right direction with efforts to establish a more reliable database, but stressed that the system must be properly integrated and maintained.
He maintained that the ultimate test for HOPE-SP would be whether it could move beyond one-off financial assistance and create a sustainable pathway towards economic independence for vulnerable Nigerians.
