Nigerian CDA Pilot Program, Week 2
Week 2: Arrival in Abuja, Nigeria.
Theme of the week: Gathering information and allies. Success in Nigeria, like many places, depends on how productive you are while waiting for other things to happen. This week was spent in Abuja, Nigeria’s capitol city, setting up some basic logistics: cell phone access, internet, and travel to Yenagoa.
There are many stakeholders and partners in this program, and implementing it will require a steep learning curve on the part of the program team. I met with the third partner in the project development, Volker Treichel, Chief Economist of the World Bank. Nigeria being the small world it is, he knows my parents. He helped facilitate a number of important meetings for the project.
The most important meeting happened on Tuesday, where I met with the Commissioner of Finance and his staff, and through him, met the Governor of Bayelsa. The Governor and Commissioner were very excited the get the program off the ground. Against the backdrop of Portugal’s loss to Spain in the World Cup, a disappointment to both the Governor and me, although ultimately good for Spain, we discussed the initial logistics of the program: the office, my potential counterpart, housing and security in Bayelsa. The Governor decided that geographic diversity is key (at least 1 school per each of the 8 Local Government Areas (LGA, otherwise known as districts). He confirmed that the participant children will get the 40,000 Naira initial deposit, and that there should be some kind of physical gift given to the children that participate, so that when they get receit of deposits they can’t access, they won’t think it’s a hoax—trust of institutions is a major challenge for this program. The Commissioner suggested that an inter-ministerial committee be formed. We agreed on that the program should have a launch event in Bayelsa once the logistics were sorted out. I am traveling with the Governor himself to be introduced to Bayelsa.
Nigeria is a diverse place, and is dominated by several major tribes: Yoruba, Ibo, Hausa, and Ijaw. The south is dominated by the Ijaw, and one cannot be successful here without considering tribe and family relationships. This is why we also had a meeting with the Chief of the Ijaw Nation, Chief Dr. Edwin Clark and his staff. We described the program to him and he expressed his interest in providing support and continuing advice to the team.
I met with UNICEF’s Child Protection Officer, because we want to make sure the children that participate in the CDA Program do not become targets of theft or violence in this volatile region. Another fruitful meeting was with USAID, to get a sense of financial education programs already in existence in Nigeria.
All in all, it was a productive week. I am looking forward to getting on the ground in Bayelsa to get started!
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