The Federal Government has spent
about N300 billion on the National Social Investment Programmes in the last
three years.
The Special Adviser to President
Muhammadu Buhari on National Social Welfare Programme, Maryam Uwais said this
on Tuesday in Abuja during a joint oversight visit by Senate and House
Committees on Poverty Alleviation.
The delegation was led by the
Chairmen of the committee in the two chambers, Sen. Lawal Gumau and Alhaji
Mohammed Wudil.
Uwais said the social investment
programmes since inception in 2016, aimed to improve the living conditions of
Nigerians through capacity building, investment and direct support.
“So far we have over 11.5 million
direct beneficiaries on all our programmes. We also have about nine million
indirect beneficiaries.
“Right now we have over 700,000
people on the National Social Register but the people we are paying under the
Conditional Cash Transfer Scheme are about 300,000.
“This is because we select only
the poorest of the poor in every community and every payment is done through
their bank account, so we are able to track every kobo spent,’’ she said.
On the school feeding programme,
Uwais said that the programme was currently feeding over 9.5 million pupils in
30 states and has empowered 101,000 cooks.
“We are feeding over 9.5 million
children in about 56,000 schools around the country. The value chain in the
school feeding programme is just amazing.
“Not only are the children coming
back to school, we are seeing that they are more alert in class and absolutely
happy to come to school.
“We are also seeing that farmers
are smiling to the banks. This is because we need at least seven million eggs
every week, over 600 cattle, 83 metric tonnes of fish and lots of fruits and
vegetables,’’ she said.
Uwais said that through the
Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) the federal government
was providing financial support to businesses at the bottom of the financial
pyramid.
She mentioned Tradermoni,
Farmermoni, and Marketmoni as the programmes being executed under GEEP.
“Tradermoni was created
specifically for petty traders and artisans across Nigeria.
“With Tradermoni, you can receive
interest-free loan starting from N10,000 and growing all the way to N100,000 as
you pay back,’’ she said.
On the challenges in the delivery
of social benefits, Uwais said that adequate funding remained a major setback.
“We don’t get our full funding.
Only about 25 per cent of our funds have been released, so we have to find ways
and means to be cost effective about our spending,’’ she said.
Uwais said the National Social
Investment Office was currently leveraging on other agencies like the Central
Bank of Nigeria, Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System, and the National Bureau
of Statistics to carry out its mandate.
She commended the World Bank for
the grant given to the office for Conditional Cash Transfers, and also
ActionAid for its role in monitoring and evaluation of all the social
investment programmes.
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I weep for my country, about 300 billion Naira spent? Thieves in Agbada and suit, you guys will just be swindling Nigerians
ReplyDelete#300B!? The gods are wise.....karma is a bitch.
ReplyDelete