Advocacy Visit to Rivers State Sustainable Development Agency (RSSDA) by Centre for Environment, Human Rights and Development, (CEHRD} under the NSRP Output Two Project

On Monday, 18^th August, 2014, the CEHRD Output Two team visited the office of the RSSDA in the company of Emem Okon, the researcher contracted to carryout the Mapping of State and Local Government Employment and Empowerment Programmes in Rivers State. The mission of the visit was to interact with the agency, brief them on the goals, objectives and roles of the program,  “Integrated Response Mechanisms for Reducing Violence against Women and Youth Unemployment in Kpor in Gokana, Okana in Abua Odua and Marine in Port Harcourt City in Rivers State”, seek for their support and collaboration to its success; as well as interview the Manager of job creation, Mr Wodo Eze. 

After the initial introduction, Mr. Wodo responded to questions from the team on running programmes of the Agency. He started by saying the  the Matthew Pottery Entrepreneurship and  the widows empowerment program are grants given to young people as beneficiaries are drawn from the 23 local government area in the states

Mr Wodo explained that the grass root millionaire scheme, another empowerment programme was set up to address the problem of unemployment by empowering communities. The aim is to have millionaires who can stay back and empower others. As a result, beneficiaries were assisted with a specific amount to set up a business of their own. According to him, RSSDA is presently trying to introduce them to external funding which can help to boost their business. 

He listed the following businesses the agency is willing to fund as communication and recharge card printing and sales, provision store, fashion shops, taxi business, poultry, fishpond etc. He clarified that the millionaire is just a name as the aim is to help people start a business that they can make a living out of.

Mr Wodo explained that there are a lot of programmes packaged under this project including but not limited to those running the transport business, some physically challenged persons who were given their own cabs to run, the promise venture which was jointly managed but now has a life of its own. 

RSSDA as he said had an initial thinking to set up outlets which will be run by a board of directors and then when they have gotten to the point where the business is making a lot of money, each person can now break out, settle out each person to go start up their own business.

In his own assertion, RSSDA has recorded success with this venture, that it has become their key flattering target. He confirmed that the RDDSA staff  are following up on the beneficiaries, monitoring and evaluating them. He pointed out that the agency’s plan in 2014 is to carry out an evaluation on this venture, the grass root millionaire scheme and other grass root millionaire scheme as well as the taxi scheme. According to him, there is a lot of monitoring to ensure that the agency get value for money. Although, there are no timeline but RSSDA expect that in two years, beneficiaries must have gotten to a particular point and once they get to that point, they are satisfied.

In order to sustain the project, he explained that beneficiaries under the charity scheme (the physically challenged),  are expected to remit something to keep the scheme going. Though for other schemes like the grass root millionaire scheme, the idea is that whatever beneficiaries make should be used to expand their business and employ others. RSSDA as he said is trying to get external funders who can fund them and help them grow their business.

He confirmed that the agency has business consultants and a book keeper who are there to support and help the beneficiaries. Although, he confessed that the consultants are not much. about 41 in number; so these could be challenge in the number of beneficiaries they can actually reach out to.

He clarified that the selection process has been very fair apart from some empowerment programmes where there are no clearly defined criteria. But the agency has in place a community interface they work with to ensure the success of the project.

Challenges

According to Mr. Wodo, One challenge faced by RSSDA is people’s attitude. Sometimes, people think that it is their right or their own share of the pie. So when you give out money sometimes, some persons may either run or end up not spending the money for its intended purpose and there is nothing you can do about it. When asked about agreements, he confirmed that each beneficiary sign one but express challenges on how to trace these persons in a country like Nigeria which has no database? Another challenge is the mindset of write down my name even if they are not suited and will never use the knowledge gained for productive purposes.

He gave a case study of a project the agency implemented, a training programme on dress making. The selection criteria, was minimum school certificate but graduate and master’s holders applied for it. He recalled that a graduate was so persistent that he even called and came to see him insisting that his name be put down for the training. When he asked him why? The man responded it’s because the training will be taking place outside the country and he sees it as an opportunity to travel out and still be engaged until something good comes his way.

He affirmed that RSSDA mission is to give funds to people who are able to employ others.According  to him, RSSDA is mainly funded by the Rivers State government, although some of their projects are run in conjunction with other partners who are expected to fund 60% while the agency provide the remaining 40%.

The RSSDA team promised to support the project and encourage the CEHRD output two team to call on them when their inputs and support is needed. The team thanked them and promised to keep communication lines open for a rewarding partnership under the project.