FG tasks NSIP independent monitors on patriotism, diligence

The Federal Government has urged the trained Independent Monitors for the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP) in Kogi to carry out their assignments with utmost sense of patriotism, diligence, and sincerity.

The Minister, Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajia Sadiya Farouq, made the call on Wednesday in Lokoja during the Distribution of Engagement Letters and Tablets to Trained Independent Monitors for NSIP in Kogi State.

Farouq urged the independent monitors to carry out their assignment with utmost sense of patriotism, diligence and sincerity, saying the ministry would not accept anything short of the set standards.

Represented by Hajia Safiyat Sani, the Deputy Director Planning, Research and Statistics (PRS) of the ministry, Farouq noted that NSIP was created by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2016 with the mandate of lifting citizens out of poverty through a number of Social Interventions.

According to her, the social interventions include: Job Creation Programme – N-POWER, National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP), Conditional Cash Transfer Programme (CCT), and the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP), being implemented in 36 states of the Country and the FCT.

“You may recall that we flagged off the training of 5000 Independent Monitors for the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP) in Abuja on Thursday 4th February 2021.

“The training was carried out across the Country from February 2021 to April 2021.

“Today, we are here to distribute Engagement Letters and Devices to the Trained Independent Monitors.

“These Devices are equipped with an Application that will be used to report on monitoring activities by the independent monitors.

“All devices to be distributed today are locally made in Nigeria and the Monitoring Application was designed by an indigenous Company.

“The Application, which we call the Social Investment Management Information System (SIMIS), is a mobile and web-based Application designed for Monitoring the NSIP.

“Using this Application, the Ministry sees real time report of activities of the Independent Monitors on the Field; we can view reports submitted and see the NSIP performance indicators by state.

“This will enable the Ministry to detect areas where there are challenges and provide greater visibility of activities happening in the field.

“Essentially, it will help us deliver on our mandate and contribute to Mr President’s vision of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of Poverty,” the minister said.

She further explained that each Independent Monitor was expected to monitor a designated number of beneficiaries of NSIP, and would receive a monthly stipend of N30,000.

To be eligible for payment, she added, such monitors must meet up to 80 per cent of their monthly deliverables.

“The Independent Monitors Engagement letters clearly articulate the scope of work, which include: Routine Monitoring of all programmes under the NSIP in their assigned Local Government Area.

“Provision of evidence-based report on findings in the field. Submission of various categories of reports in accordance with the set timelines.

“Attending all trainings and meetings as required by the Ministry, and other duties that may be assigned by the Ministry,” Farouq said.

She advised the Independent Monitors against assigning their responsibilities to third parties, saying every one of them would be held accountable by the Ministry for the task given to them.

Earlier, the Kogi State Focal Person of NSIP, Mr Abdulkareem Onyekehi, said that Kogi State had been fully involved in all the four components of the NSIP programme by the federal government.

He commended President Muhammadu Buhari for the initiative in providing jobs and lifting the poorest of the poor and the vulnerable citizens out of abject poverty.

He noted that about 43, 000 petty traders had benefited from the GEEP, over 34,000 beneficiaries of CCT, over 12,000 for NPower and about 80, 000 pupils for HGSFP, had benefited in in the state.

He added that the federal government had injected over N17 billion into the economy of Kogi State through NSIP since inception till date.

According to him, N297 million had been injected through HGSFP, N799 million through GEEP, N4.9 billion through CCT, and N11.5 billion through NPower into Kogi economy since inception the FG’s NSIP till date.

“Kogi State Government is a responsible government and is committed to the full implementation of all FG’s programmes in the state.

“We will ensure that the programme achieve its desired goals in Kogi State”, Onyekehi said.

It was reported that 50 trained independent monitors from the 21 local government areas of Kogi State, received their Engagement Letters and one Tablet device each.

Some of the independent monitors, who spoke to NAN; Rikiyat Ademu from Olamaboro, Yusuf Abdulraheem from Ajaokuta, and Tope Adedayo from Ijumu LGAs, commended the federal government for the initiative, and promised to do their best to ensure the success of this programme.

Other stakeholders at the programme were: National Orientation Agency (NOA), Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), Directorate of State Services (DSS), Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Police and Amnesty International, among others.