The House at its plenary session of Thursday, 2 November 2017 urged the Minister of Finance, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, the GEMS Project Team and the World Bank to halt a planned diversion of $35m out of a Growth and Employment in States (GEMS) Project. The said project was described as having been entered by an agreement reached by the Federal Government, the World Bank and the UK Department for International Development (DFID) to increase job creation in Nigeria.
Presenting the motion, Hon. Mark Gbillah (APC: Benue), stated that the Growth and Employment in States (GEMS) Project was conceptualized by the Federal Government (FG) under the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment to create jobs for Nigerians. According to him, the project was intended as part of FG’s scheme to diversify the economy and increase growth on the non-oil sector. He also explained that the project was targeted at empowering 4000 Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) across the country in high-potential value chain sectors such as Information and Communications Technology (ICT), Light Manufacturing, Agro processing, the Entertainment Industry, Hospitality and Tourism, Construction and Real Estate.
Speaking further, Hon. Gbillah said that the implementation of the GEMS Project is predicated on funding from the World Bank and the United Kingdom (UK) Department for International Development (DFID) under an arrangement where the latter would provide a grant of £90 million that it would strictly manage while the former would provide a concessionary loan of $160 million that would be domiciled in a Project account with the Central Bank of Nigeria. The terms of agreement also include that the Minister of Finance and a Project Steering Committee chaired by the Hon Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment would oversight the money provided by the World Bank. The Hon Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment was also mentioned as being responsible for project implementation.
However, the lawmaker raised alarm over the poor implementation of the GEMS project alleging that the five year project due to end in September, 2018 had a low number of beneficiaries. The lawmaker also used the platform to criticize the current Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment for appointing a Coordinator of GEM from his private equity firm, African Capital Alliance. He questioned the Minister’s choice of a project coordinator from his equity firm, saying that it would have been more cost effective for the Minister to have used a civil servant from his Ministry rather than pay his said employee N4.9 Million a month. He also accused the said Minister for requesting for a release of $35m from the Federal Ministry of Finance from monies dispensed by the world bank for the GEMS project for the creation of a parallel SME Investment Fund that would be managed by an independent private company to dispense between $250,000 to $2m each to 23 unidentified companies with no government oversight or involvement.
Lastly, he expressed concerns over the Minister’s breach in requesting the said amount without an approval for virement from the National Assembly or recourse to the Project Steering Committee. He also accused the Project Coordinator for going ahead to advertise for a Fund Manager and concluded plans with the World Bank and the Ministry of Finance which has, either been misled or is in collusion to approve the said $35 million by Friday 3 November 2017 without recourse to due process. The Ministry of Finance was also accused of complacency for failing to heed the Department of State Security’s advice to halt any disbursement of funds for the “illegal” SME Investment Fund.
Following the adoption of the motion, the House has mandated its Committees on Finance, Industry, Commerce, and Aids, Loans and Debt Management to investigate the circumstances surrounding the implementation of the Project, the number of beneficiaries so far under the Project, extent of involvement of consultants, inflow received and disbursements made since it commenced in 2013 and other related issues. The Committees have been given a four-week timeframe to report their findings for further legislative action.
