By October 2015, it will be 3years that the Federal Government of Nigeria signed a MoU with the United Nations on the Junior Professionals Officers Program. The initiative, designed to sponsor 37 young Nigerians to be deployed in UN offices globally for 1year, despite having received budgetary allocations of 2.1 billion Naira, has no single beneficiary till date

1. Executive Summary
By October, 2015, it will be three years that the
Federal Government of Nigeria signed a
Memorandum of Understanding with the United
Nations Development Program (UNDP) on the
Junior Professional Officers (JPO) Program. The
initiative was designed to sponsor 37 Nigerian
youths into an international opportunity drenched
program that will make them become Junior
Professional Officers. It is commendable that
Nigeria is the only African country that has signed
into this partnership despite 23 other nations
across the globe having had their youths benefit
from it. But then, what is the need signing a
document if it is not backed with commitment.
YouthHub Africa has followed the budgetary
progress of this program closely in hope that
young people who are beneficiaries will be made
to distil information from the program and share
with other Nigerian youths upon return to the
country. We are particularly concerned that there
has been budgetary allocation for this in 2013 and
2014 while 2015 did not have such provision in the
budget of the Federal Ministry of Youth
Development (FMoYD) which caters for 40% of
the country's population which Nigerian youths
represent. Thus far, 2.1 billion Naira has been
voted for the program without any benefit. More
worrisome is the claim of the Ministry that it is still
in the process of actualising the program in a year
without budgetary provision. We suggest that the
FMoYD express accountability to Nigerians by
making public a comparative data on the amount
budgeted, the amount released and the amount
spent or returned into the coffers of the Ministry of
Finance.
We are convinced that the JPO holds a huge
potential to create a corps of professional youths
and we therefore recommend that budget for it be
inserted into the 2015 supplementary budget and
the FMoYD re-initiate conversation with the UNDP
to bring the program to light.
Introduction
In Abuja, on October 29, 2012, the Government of
Nigeria and the United Nations Development
Program (UNDP) signed a Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) which opened the way for
Nigeria to sponsor a first batch of 37 young
Nigerians into the Junior Professional Officer's
(JPO) program. The JPO program is administered
by UNDP and its affiliated funds and programmes.
It provides the opportunity for young professionals
to gain valuable experience in the international
environment.
Globally, the JPO program is managed by the
Junior Professional Officer's Program Service
Centres (JPOSC) at the UN offices in
Copenhagen, Denmark. As of June 2015, the
JPOSC provides services to 213 JPOs and 19
SARCs drawn from from 23 nationalities. Among
the participating JPOs, 27% are male while 73%
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2. POLICY BRIEF - June 2015
are female. The program has so far received
funding support from 16 partner countries and
JPOs are stationed in 11 UN organisations
By joining the JPO program as its 20th donor
country and the only participating African country,
Nigeria has taken a step in providing exposure
and a headstart to the careers of many young
Nigerian and it is hoped that the program would be
credited with availing Nigerians the opportunity for
international careers in the coming years.
Almost three years after the Memorandum of
Understanding was signed between Nigeria and
UNDP and following budgetary allocations to the
project in recent years, YouthHubAfrica examines
the implementation of the project in Nigeria and
sought to determine the extent of its impact on
Nigerian youths who constitute 40% of the
population.
Preliminary findings from our study suggest that
although N1,129,331,010 has been allocated to
the project in 2013 and a further N1,000,000,000
Naira in 2014, not a single Nigerian has benefitted
from the JPO program.Curiously, there was no
budgetary allocation to the project in the 2015
budget. furthermore, it is not clear how much of the
appropriated amounts had indeed been disbursed
to the project and what such sums might have
been expended upon.
This policy brief is our modest contribution to the
discussions on pro-youth policy implementation in
Nigeria. In the coming months, we will reflect on
different policy areas including funding and use of
youth centres and share our findings with key
policy makers and implementers as well as the
general public.
Our review of the JPO program in Nigeria involved
a combination of desk reviews of available
information as well as requests for information
from the appropriate stakeholders. Our findings
were based on the following specific
undertakings:
Our Approach
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1. Conduct of a research on the JPO
program: We were unable to trace any
document or report indicating that any
Nigerian has benefitted from the JPO
program under the MoU signed between
the Government of Nigeria and the
UNDP.
2. We emailed with the JPOSC in
Copenhagen to ascertain the status of
the MoU signed with the Nigerian
Government and if any Nigerian had
benefited from the program and were
directed to refer all questions to the focal
person at the Federal Ministry of Youth
Development in Nigeria. We also emailed
other individuals including Nigerians who
have benefitted from the scheme
sponsored by other partner countries,
they were also unaware of any Nigerian
sponsored by the Government of Nigeria
currently in the JPO program
3. We sent a Freedom of Information (FoI)
request to the Federal Ministry of Youth
Development on May 5, 2015 requesting for
information on the JPO program as follows:
● N u m b e r o f N i g e r i a n s
that have taken part in the
program till date
● N u m b e r o f N i g e r i a n s
t h a t h a v e t a k e n p a r t
based on early
information
● Agencies and countries
w h e r e N i g e r i a n s a r e
currently deploy
● I f t h e N i g e r i a n J P O
program is still running.
4. After an initial 7 working days provision
made by the FoI Law to receive a

3. POLICY BRIEF - June 2015
The information sourced from the FMOYD through the FOI request is summarized below:
Our Findings
Question Asked by Youthhubafrica Response Provided by FMOYD
Number of Nigerians that have taken
part in the program till date
Number of Nigerians that have taken part
based on yearly information
Agencies and countries where Nigerians
are currently deployed
Is the Nigerian JPO program still running
No Nigerian has been enlisted in
the program yet
Nigerian JPO program is not an
annual program
No Nigerian is currently deployed to
any agency or country
Nigeria is still in the process of
actualising the program
The confirmation that no Nigerian has currently benefited from the JPO program since inception MoU
was signed in 2012 was received with surprise. This however raises some questions because the
FMOYD in its 2013 and 2014 financial year had budgetary provisions for the JPO program to the tune of
N1,129,331,010 and N1,000,000,000 respectively. This indicates that about 2.1 billion Naira has been
voted to the JPO program without these resources benefitting a single Nigerian. The response by the
Ministry that it is still in the process of actualising the program becomes more curious as the 2015 budget
of the FMOYD has no budgetary provisions for the program. Further indication that the program may
have hit a brick-wall is the website created to receive applications and providewww.fmydjpop.gov.ng
information on the program by the FMOYD has expired.
The following diagram shows key dates and processes in the JPO program in Nigeria
MoU between Nigeria and
UNDP signed on October
29, 2012
UNDP Nigeria released a
call for application via its
website on December 11,
2013
Application closed
December 31, 2013
Thousand of applications
were received with about
130 persons shortlisted
for a final screening and
interview in conjunction
with UNDP
Outstanding
· Final Screening and selection of 37 beneficiaries by FMOYD/UNDP
· Deployment of 37 Beneficiaries to their postings at UN offices globally
Source: UNDP Nigeria/JPO Service Centre, Denmark
Amount Budgeted
2013 2014
N1.129 Billion N1 Billion
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response from Government agencies
elapsed, we sent a reminder letter on
May 14, 2015 to the Federal Ministry
of Youth Development. Finally, on
June 1, 2015 the Federal Ministry of
Youth Development responded to
the FoI request.

4. Conclusions
Given the limited information we have been able to
gather about the JPO program, it is clear that there
is need for further discussions on the project. We
at Youthhub Africa see the potential of programs
such as the JPO and call for the strengthening and
stronger oversight of the program.
From the information available to us, we are
concerned about the budgetary oversight
process; we raise concern for example as to how a
further one billion Naira could have been allocated
to the project in 2014 without a clear and
exhaustive report on the usage (or non-usage) of
the funds allocated in the preceding budget year.
furthermore, we are concerned that budgetary
allocations such as the two billion Naira allocated
to the JPO scheme in 2013-14 do not tell us much
since it is a known fact that sometimes not all
allocated funds are disbursed. It is likely though
that some disbursements may have been made
since a website was created for the scheme -
however, it is impossible to discuss the efficacy of
the project as it is not known how much was
invested into it in terms of actual amounts spent.
There is need for Nigeria to honour continue to
respect its agreement with international
institutions especially agreements that benefits its
people. Nigeria and its institutions such as the
FMOYD should strive at all times to honour
commitments made internationally in order to
protect the honour and the good name of Nigeria.
Implications and Recommendation
Over 2.129 billion Naira was budgeted for the
JPO program between 2013 and 2014, we do
not have data to show how much of the amount
budgeted was released to the Ministry of Youth
and what ratio might have been spent or
returned to the coffers of the State.
There is need to tighten the budget process to
ensure that it presents realistic and feasible
estimates of expenditure. In addition, the
decision on whether additional funds would be
allocated in preceding years or not should be
based on review and evaluation of the
expenditure in the past years. If the decision not
to fund the JPO in 2015 was based on known
lapses, then these ought to be published and if
necessary, Nigeria’s participation in the JPO
scheme should be reviewed.
We recommend that the government of
President Buhari look into the JPO program
and address challenges that might be
observed. Failure to fund the program in 2015
places it in a legal limbo and it is uncertain what
would become of the scheme in future
This program will benefit 37 young Nigerians
and we ask that the Government of Nigeria
prioritise it as one of its youth development
programs by including it in the 2015
supplementary budget or the 2016 budget
ABOUT YOUTHHUB AFRICA
YouthHubAfrica also known as Youth Foundation for Development, Education and Leadership is
a networked community that seeks to create a platform for young people in Africa involved in
social change to interact, learn and collaborate in new ways. Established in 2012,
youthhubafrica.org has emerged as one of the largest continental platforms in Africa providing
information and opportunities for youth and also a point of entry into policy and decision-making
processes at the continental and global levels. Her services include profiling young people
involved in social change on the African continent, connecting youth in Africa to resources and
opportunities, providing linkages between youth leaders in Africa, providing platforms and
opportunities for learning and a hub for youth development inAfrica. YouthhubAfrica's vision is to
see young people taking front rows seats on development issues on the African continent. Her
mission is to equip and celebrate a new generation ofAfrican thinkers, leaders and innovators.
Contact: No. 6, Ibani Close, Off Crown Court Estate, behind VIO Office, Mabushi Abuja
Phone: +2349098044444, +2349097644444 Email: policy@youthhubafrica.org,
info@youthhubafrica.org www.youthhubafrica.org
@youthhubafrica /youthhubafrica @youthhubafrica
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