North-eastern Nigeria, comprising of Borno, Taraba, Adamawa, Yobe, Gombe, and Bauchi states, has become the most uninhabitable region in the country due to series of Boko Haram attacks. Despite counterterrorism strategies of the Government, the Boko Haram insurgency has shown no signs of abating and have widened in its complexity. Additionally, clashes between nomadic Fulani herdsmen and farmers have been on the rise in the region and North-central Nigeria. As a result, millions have been displaced, killed, migrated and living in deplorable conditions. A lot of attention has been placed on Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) – and rightly so – since they face the brunt of these violent attacks. However, very little attention has been paid to the efforts of and challenges facing humanitarian workers.  This piece delves into the challenges humanitarian workers face in conflict-affected parts of Northern Nigeria and provides key recommendations for addressing these challenges.

The Need for Humanitarian Assistance

The insurgency in North Eastern Nigeria has made many areas in the region listed as unsafe and high-risk zones. For instance,  Download File">eighty percent of Borno state is listed as high or very high-risk zones. Since the start of the Boko Haram conflict in 2009, over Download File">20,000 people have been killed, over Download File">4,000 have been abducted, and millions have been displaced. The 2018 International Organization of Migration (IOM) report estimates that nearly Download PDF">2 million persons are displaced and 7.7 million Download PDF">Nigerians are in need of humanitarian assistance and services in the region. Humanitarian services alongside relief items aids such as food, medical services, shelter, education, water, and sanitation are most needed in the region. Humanitarian workers operate in the front-line and are charged with the responsibility of saving the lives of IDPs, reducing their suffering, and facilitating the effective distribution of aid materials. In Nigeria, there are only 2, 000 indigenous and 500 international aid Download PDF">workers providing humanitarian services in worst-affected states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states.

Challenges Facing Humanitarian Workers

Increasing security risks: It is becoming increasingly dangerous to provide humanitarian assistance in Nigeria given the rise in the death of aid workers. Download File">Recorded deaths have increased from one aid worker (between 1997 and 2008) to thirteen aid workers (between 2009 and 2017). In a single Boko Haram attack in Download PDF">March 2018, three humanitarian workers were killed and three sustained injuries, which led to the evacuation of 40 aid workers and the temporary suspension of humanitarian deliveries in Rann, Borno State, after a raid on a camp housing 55,000 IDPs. There are cases of humanitarian workers being kidnapped for ransom. Due to poor security conditions, amid the lack of well-armed military Download File">personnel, humanitarian workers are often deterred from providing needed assistance in many conflict-affected parts of North East Nigeria. On account of security issues, three Local Government Areas (LGAs) have been identified as completely Download File">inaccessible , while 26 LGAs in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states are identified as partially accessible.

Insufficient Humanitarian Workers: The number of humanitarian workers in Nigeria is low when compared with the over 7.7 million people in need of humanitarian assistance. Only 2,500 aid workers provide humanitarian services in the most-affected states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states. The low supply of humanitarian workers means that available aid workers have an overwhelming workload. However, the reward for humanitarian assistance is not reciprocal to the effort and energy exerted by humanitarian workers who risk their lives in insecure regions of the country. A global survey carried out by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNCFR) indicates that Download PDF">72 percent of its aid workers lack reciprocity between effort and potential rewards (effort-reward imbalance).

Inadequate Health Care: Due to the dearth of mental health facilities, humanitarian workers in Nigeria do not receive adequate care for their mental health. Generally, there is a considerable Download PDF">neglect of mental health issues in Nigeria and information about mental health is lacking, with only Download PDF">7 mental health facilities in the country. Yet, Download PDF">evidence suggests that humanitarian workers are at risk of mental health issues given the hazard associated with their line of work. Humanitarian workers relative to the general population are more likely to suffer from anxiety, depression, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), secondary traumatic stress, burnout, and alcohol misuse. This is due to exposure to traumatic events while administering humanitarian assistance amid contact with victims of conflict as well as an effort-reward imbalance. The exposure of humanitarian workers to traumatic events and neglect of mental issues in the country is a problem facing humanitarian workers in Nigeria.

Way forward

The government needs to do more to establish its presence in conflict-affected regions of North-Eastern Nigerian, in order to provide more support for displaced persons and humanitarian workers in the area. As such, we recommend:

Federal Government: The Federal Government particularly needs to improve its military presence. Download File">Over 50 percent of the security provided in displacement camps in the region are self-organized, signifying a lack of military presence. Humanitarian workers require military protection in the course of rendering assistance to reduce the life-threatening risks. Pending normalcy, the Federal Government should also increase its financial commitment and provide incentives for private funding. The Federal Government of Nigeria should increase humanitarian funding commitment in the region, beyond the Download File">0.8 percent of the needed fund it currently provides. This will help bridge the supply-demand gap in financial aids. The government should hence, increase the humanitarian aid in its budgetary allocation to be better equipped in responding to crisis and other disasters. Amid fiscal constraints, the government can also encourage private sector participation by providing incentives, such as short-term tax deductions, for the private sector to provide humanitarian assistance in affected areas. Also, there is a need to raise public awareness of the needs of displaced persons and the need for more aid workers.

State and Local Governments: States and local government are seen as first responders and immediate providers of assistance due to proximity. In order to reduce causalities, there is a need for state and local governments to respond quickly to crisis situations. To achieve this, local authorities should develop an effective information and communication sharing system between internal security agencies and displacement camps.

Role of Non-Governmental Organizations: The magnitude and duration of the crisis warranted the intervention of international and civil society organizations (CSOs). International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs) and local CSOs have provided various forms of humanitarian assistance over the years and are urged to continue to respond to call for emergency assistance in Nigeria. It is important for INGOs to collaborate with local partners in order to provide on-ground and security support as oppose to working in silos. INGOs also need to strengthen their institutional capacity by making preparation and debriefing mandatory for their staff who work in conflict areas. This is due to the exposure to violence and the associated mental risk facing aid workers. After debriefing aid workers should have access to good and affordable mental facilities to rehabilitate. Giving the link between effort-reward imbalance and mental health, INGOs and CSOs should pay humanitarian workers incommensurate with their invaluable assistance, so as to improve job satisfaction and reduce mental risk.

Regional Level: There is a need to promote regional cooperation and better coordination across borders. Governments, NGOs, and CSOs at the regional level should build a network among each other to share information and best practices, so as to learn from each other’s experiences and assist one another in capacity building. Regional institutions like AfDB, AU, ECOWAS can use their platforms to stress the importance of and challenges facing humanitarian workers.

Nigeria is Africa’s largest economy and has one of the widest energy gaps in the world. To provide the necessary economic growth for its growing population, Nigeria urgently needs to improve its power sector. The country’s current installed capacity is close to 13,000 megawatts, but in practice, only about 3,800 megawatts gets evacuated for consumption due to the various breakdowns across the value chain. The government’s aim to boost electricity access from 45% today to 90% by 2030 require extensive plans for rural and urban electrification and will drive even more demand. The government privatized part of the power sector in 2013, hoping to promote efficiency, attract private investment, and increase generation, but this has yet to deliver results due to misaligned incentives. Post-privatization, many of the challenges witnessed have been centred on unreliable gas supply, electricity tariffs below cost recovery, vandalism, insufficient metering, and liquidity shortfalls.

To this end, The Energy for Growth Hub, in partnership with Centre for the Study of the Economies of Africa (CSEA) and Nextier Power recently convened a one-day workshop to discuss some of the power sector’s needs and present to key stakeholders in the power sector, policies that would be essential in resolving the sector’s challenges and restoring financial viability in the value chain.

Nigeria is Africa’s largest economy, but also has one of the widest energy gaps in the world. With a quickly growing population, Nigeria urgently needs to improve its power sector. The country’s current installed capacity is reported at 12,500 megawatts, but in practice, only about 3,800 megawatts gets evacuated. The government’s aim to boost electricity access from 45% today to 90% by 2030 will drive even more demand. The government privatized part of the power sector in 2013 hoping to promote efficiency, attract private investment, and increase generation, but this has yet to deliver results. The Energy for Growth Hub, in partnership with Centre for the Study of the Economies of Africa (CSEA) and Nextier Power convened a one-day workshop to discuss some of the power sector’s needs and present to key stakeholders in the power sector, policies that would be essential in resolving the sector’s challenges and restoring financial viability in the value chain. The workshop focused on three priorities: solving barriers in the gas-to-power value chain, an active plan for renewable energy integration, and energy theft under the theme The Electricity Landscape in Nigeria: Challenges and Policy Bottlenecks The workshop held on Tuesday, May 21, 2019, at The Wells Carlton Hotel Asokoro, Abuja, Nigeria.

In the News

It is widely known that cigarette smoking and other forms of tobacco use (both active and passive smoking) is damaging to health, poses enormous economic costs, and accounts for a significant proportion of health inequities. Yet, Nigeria’s fiscal policies for tobacco control appear weak. With recent changes, excise tax rates amount to an excise tax burden of just about 16 percent, relative to the 75 percent benchmark recommended by the World Health Organization. With lower tobacco control policies in Nigeria, the country has become the hub for tobacco production in West Africa for companies like the British American Tobacco (BAT).

While smoking prevalence is still low in Nigeria, the prevalence is rising even among women and children in rural areas. Therefore, there is a need for evidence to support effective tobacco control policies in Nigeria that can help curb the emerging tobacco use epidemic. Local evidence can provide context-specific information and tools that are needed to design policies and shape practices that improve public health equitably and generate government revenue to support health-promoting programmes.

To highlight these issues, CSEA organized a round-table workshop to discuss an ongoing research project on Fostering Effective Tobacco Control Policy Implementation in Nigeria. The two-year project was commissioned by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada and aims to provide research and advocacy towards the design and implementation of an effective tobacco control policy in Nigeria.

The proposed project will focus on:

1. estimating the pro-health tobacco tax rates and structure
2. assessing the economic costs and impact of tobacco use across different groups as well as cost-effectiveness of tobacco control interventions
3. identifying the impact of tax changes on illicit trade as well as cost-effective measures for curbing illicit trade on tobacco products. The studies provide technical local evidence to support tobacco control policymaking and implementation.

The workshop, provided a platform for participants and experts to discuss data, methods and expected outcomes for each component of the research project.  Participants at the workshop include: stakeholders from ECOWAS, Ministry of health, Ministry of Finance, Nigeria Customs Service, Federal Inland Revenue Service, the Academia, Research organizations, Nigeria Tobacco Control Alliance, CSO’s and the Media.

In the News

By Peace John

On March 19, 2019, the new national minimum wage bill, an issue that featured widely in the 2019 presidential campaigns, finally received legislative approval. The Senate approved ₦30,000 as the new National minimum wage, after nearly 8 years of no-increase from the ₦18,000 paid as minimum wage since 2011. The wage increase was due for review in 2016 according to the law that stipulates that minimum wage should be reviewed at least once every 5 years. As of 2017, Nigeria’s labour and trade unions had initiated agitations and advocacy for a raise for minimum wage workers, particularly owing to the over-due review and inflation’s effect on the value of the wages received. The sustained outcry undertook threatening dimensions, such as strikes and protests on several occasions, to accentuate their demands. Now, their voices have been heard, and what seems to be an applaudable achievement for them, if implemented, may bring with it several short-term and long-term fiscal and economic implications for Nigeria. More importantly, based on prevailing economic realities in Nigeria, it is one thing to approve wage policies and another thing to possess the unwavering capacity to pay the agreed amount. In light of the newly approved minimum wage, this piece highlights the plausible responses of the government, businesses, and the macro-economy at large.

Fiscal Responses

Government’s Non-capital Spending to expand.

As the new wage policy awaits the president’s assent, implementation processes become potentially inevitable and the government is expected to fund the costs arising from implementing the policy. Such costs arise in the form of an increase in personnel expenses with spikes in the percentage of the government revenue utilized for wage bills. According to the CBN, the federal government’s personnel cost rose by 18.5% to N1.85 trillion as the minimum wage was increased from N7,500 to N18,000 in 2011, thus accounting for 52% of FG retained revenue. By 2016, personnel spending had gulped about 59% of FG’s N3.2 trillion revenue and is now projected to enlarge to N2.29 trillion in 2019. With the new minimum wage approved, the government is expected to tender a supplementary budget that would provide for the imminent rise in the wage bill. While the federal government is faced with this stern burden of incorporating the new wage bill into its already strained finances, states face a more severe test given the recurring struggles to pay salaries. These excessive burdens may leave the governments with no choice than to increase borrowing to settle personnel costs – causing a devastating swing on the country’s high debt profile. However, given the shortfall in borrowing capacity, borrowing is almost not an option to be considered. Alternatively, a lower hanging fruit may remain an increase in taxation, particularly Value Added Tax (VAT) – but it has its implications.

Increase in tax rate almost inevitable

Taxation is one means, among many others, used by governments to boost revenue and meet fiscal obligations. To enable the Nigerian government to generate more revenue sufficient to fund the supplementary budget, it is considering an increase in tax rate (VAT). At the prevailing standard 5% VAT, the government generated from about N482 billion in 2013 to N972.3 billion and N1.1 trillion in 2017 and 2018 respectively. However, the tax revenue together with IGR and others, were not sufficient to cater to some states salary structures as many workers were owed salaries for several months. With the recent consideration of 50% rate increase, a VAT would be applied at 7.5% if implemented. The new rate provides a renewed opportunity for the government to garner more revenue; however, the actual point of concern is if this likely increase in revenue will be sufficient to pay the new minimum wage. Although no empirical evidence exists to forecast the amount of tax revenue needed to accommodate the wage increase, the fiscal sustainability of the new wage rate is uncertain given the limited progress made on increasing tax revenue in Nigeria.

Economic Responses

Sustained Inflationary Pressure

In theory, businesses are forced to raise prices when there is an increase in minimum wage, and this ultimately places cost-push inflationary pressures on the economy. Real business practices conform with this theory. A strategic attempt to absorb increasing labour costs tend to cause producers to transfer the cost of wage increase to product prices, which are eventually borne by consumers in form of higher prices. For example, in 2003 when the government reviewed a wage increase, prices of goods and services rose, and inflation rate spiked from about 10.5% to as high as 24%. A similar wage-increase in 2011 saw the inflation rate remain at double-digit for two years thereafter, according to data from the CBN.  If implemented, the 2019 wage increase may cause inflation rate to extensively exceed the CBN’s 12% projection and gradually erode purchasing power and value of the new minimum wage in the long term. By then, the cycle of agitations for another wage raise may come into effect, yet again.

Possible job losses

Empirical evidences such as from the World Bank, suggest that employment effects of a rise in the minimum wage are often significant and negative, particularly in a largely informal labour market like Nigeria. By reorganizing internal human resource structure, businesses that lack the capacity to keep up with an increase in overhead costs may take drastic measures such as retrenching workers and downsizing labour time. With a number of job losses and layoffs, unemployment and underemployment rates are forced to increase. A survey by the NBS showed that between 2011 when there was a rise in minimum wage and 2012, about 1.43 million people who were fully employed or underemployed lost their jobs. Although there was an increase in the labour force population, the total number of unemployed persons rose by 82.5% to 7.3 million. It is likely that the implementation of the 2019 approved minimum wage may project a similar trend given past occurrences.

Going Forward:

Although revenue from taxation has grown over the years, efforts of the government and revenue generating agencies to improve tax revenue have yielded limited progress. While collection processes have improved, other areas for improvement exist such as limited tax coverage that mitigates the collection efforts. To ensure that efforts yield the much-needed progress and beyond the existing collection process, widening Nigeria’s tax net is absolutely necessary. Lagos state sets a remarkable example for other states to follow through its model tax administrative machinery. The machinery granted full autonomy to the Lagos State Inland Revenue Service in 2006 and created new tax operational units within the agency. In 2008, the agency introduced the self-assessment filling system and a system for collaboration with other MDAs. To capture a wider range of the informal sector, in 2016, tax assessments were translated to various local languages, and more than 39 tax stations had been established across the state with compliance initiatives as priority. As a result of the wider coverage, Lagos state has witnessed unprecedented IGR growth – from a monthly average of N5.1 billion in 2006 to N56.7 billion in 2018. Going forward, states whose tax agencies lack such machinery should first be granted autonomy by the state governments.  Further, capturing a wider range of informal sector in each state and at the federal level through similar initiatives is vital to adding more taxpayers into the tax net.

Individuals and businesses are not left out in ensuring that the new minimum wage policy works for the improvement of the economy. To do this, critical emphasis on employee/worker productivity is essential, particularly when the alternative retrench mechanism is not an option. For individuals: collecting a higher wage is needful to encourage their improved commitment and performance. For businesses: given that productivity is an important determinant of economic growth, spurring productivity could inform higher national output. More regular assessments and demanding increased realistic targets from each employee are imperative measures that could be used to ensure improved productivity among workers and employees.