A proposed solution on how adapting the Universal Basic Income can be used for Social Assistance through Social protection which will support and protect its workforce towards the changing nature of work.
3. Adapting THE UNIVERSITY BASIC
INCOME
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Nigeria located in West Africa is one of
the developing countries that has not
fully benefited from the Bismarckian
model because of the large size of its
informal economies.
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4. There are three main components
of social protection systems—a
guaranteed social minimum (with
social assistance at its core),
social insurance, and labour
market regulation.
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5. A social minimum
includes the set of social
assistance programs that
provide financial support
to a large share of the
population, or even all of
it.5
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6. Nigeria is estimated to
have a population of
200 million, having a
large number of
informal economy.
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7. Nigeria has been
continually expanding its
social assistance
programs. It has had quite
a few of this program in the
last few years.
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8. Some example are,
Youth Enterprise with Innovation
in Nigeria- YouWin is a youth
development programme,
established to
empower Nigeria Youth in 2011.
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9. The programme was a
Private and Public
initiative with the aim of
financing outstanding
business plan for
aspiring entrepreneur
Nigerian Youth.
Public initiative with the aim of financing
Outstanding
public initiative
The program was a
joint product of four
ministries from the
Federal Republic of
Nigeria namely;
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10. Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Communication
and Technology, Ministry of Youth Development
and the Ministry of Women Affairs.
The execution of this program was to finance
the projection of the government of enhancing
3600 entrepreneurship youths in the country.
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11. The programme was planned in three
stages
First Stage
the first edition,
tagged YouWin! 1,
was initiated to
sensitize aspiring
entrepreneurial
Youth on job
creation by funding
their business
plans.
Second Stage
The second edition
(YouWin! 2) was a
Mono-gender
version, with
Women below the
age of 45 year as
the target
participants. It
rewarded over
1200 youths.
Third Stage
The third edition
(YouWin! 3) was
Poly-gender, with
a record number
of awardees (over
2500 Youth).
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12. In 2016 the programme was redesigned to
YouWiN!Connect, which takes YouWiN! to
the next level as a multi-media enterprise
education initiative that will provide the tools
and skills required to support the
emergence of the next generation of
successful Nigerian-owned enterprises
across the nation.
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13. Another Social assistance scheme implemented was
the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment
Program known as 'SURE-P was a scheme established to
re-investing the Federal Government savings from fuel
subsidy removal on critical infrastructure projects and social
safety net programmes with direct impact on the citizens of
Nigeria.
Subsidy Reinvestment and
Empowerment Program
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14. SURE-P was established on January 2012 when the Federal Government of
Nigeria announced the removal of subsidy on Petroleum Motor Spirit (PMS). The
scheme was one of the pivots of Transformation Agenda of the Federal
Government. The main objectives of the program but not limited to were:
> Provision of employments for unemployed graduates through internship
programs
> Creating database of unemployed youth and reduce social
vulnerability among the group in the country through the mechanism of the
policy.
> SURE-P Maternal and Child Health Initiative (SURE-P MCH), which ran
from 2012 through 2014, and was also designed to improve health care for
pregnant women and their babies.
Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment
Program
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15. Social assistance has worked on
many levels. These gains have been
largest for the, poorest, youth, rural
dwellers, girls, and ethnic minorities.
The social assistance programs have
affected a lot of households improving
their livelihood.
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16. Another intervention program is the
TraderMoni, a loan programme of the Federal
Government, created specifically for petty
traders and artisans across Nigeria. It is a part
of the Government Enterprise and
Empowerment Programme (GEEP) scheme
of the Federal Government, being executed
by the Bank of Industry. With TraderMoni, the
government provided small loans to petty
traders without any collaterals. Increasing the
loans as they return previous loans.
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17. Poverty is dynamic in Nigeria with a significant part of
its population moving in and out of it. These suggest
the need for broader and more permanent coverage
than most social assistance programs currently
provided.. Although more universal approaches are
desirable, the specific shape of this social minimum
faces technical, budgetary, and political challenges.
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18. A Universal Basic Income (UBI) should be adopted in
Nigeria. This tool enshrines the notion of building a
guaranteed social minimum through a single program
with three design features. First, the program is aimed
at every individual, independent of income or
employment status. Second, participants do not have to
fulfill any conditions or reciprocal co-responsibilities.
Third, assistance is provided in the form of cash instead
of in-kind transfers and services.
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19. A UBI will not an be alternative to health,
education, or other social services. The
program may supplement current social
assistance programs and more likely replace
some of the programs pursuing income
support functions.
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20. It may be designed with different
objectives in mind, from poverty
reduction to ensuring a liveable income.
The discussion here focuses on poverty
reduction. Although a UBI provides the
entire population with the same level of
benefits, the money may be recovered
from the rich through, for example, a
progressive income tax.20
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21. A UBI would generate winners and losers
among the population. Its effects would
depend on how the program is financed;
whether existing targeted programs would be
replaced and which ones; the performance of
existing schemes; current tax structures; the
size of UBI transfers; and the profile of people
receiving it.
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22. Estimates for a selection of developing
countries that simulate replacing some
existing schemes with a UBI found significant
distributional effects. In Nepal, most people
would gain from such a program. In
Indonesia, a UBI providing the same average
amount of benefits as current programs
would make most of the population better off,
but about 40 percent of the poor would
receive less. 22
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23. A UBI could generate more efficiency by
reducing program fragmentation already
existing in Nigeria. Thereby giving a wider
spread to the 200 million population of 250
ethnic group. Some degree of consolidation
may be appropriate, but the optimal number
of programs will certainly be more than one.
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24. Whichever form of social assistance is
selected, technology and human capital
index can be harnessed to improve the
delivery of social protection programs in
Nigeria.
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