NSIP aims at poverty reduction, says FG

The Federal Government said the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP) was introduced to reduce hunger among vulnerable Nigerians.

Hajia Sadiya Umar, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, said this on Tuesday at a stakeholders’ meeting in Awka.

Umar was represented at the meeting by Mr Charles Nwanalo, a Deputy Director in the ministry and Team Lead, South East Distribution of Computer Tablets and Engagement Certificate.

She said that vulnerable persons include the youths, elderly persons, widows, children, micro business persons and poorest of the poor.

She also said the implementation of NSIP involved four unique clusters that were strategically designed to involve all stakeholders, particularly state government agencies, community leaders, among others.

The minister said the clusters on the NSIP included the N-Power aimed at building capacity, skills and competences that could unleash jobs among the youths.

She also identified the clusters to include the Conditional Cash Transfer aimed at reducing the vulnerability of poor homes by providing monthly cash transfers of N5,000.

She said the National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP) was designed as a multi-faceted intervention to drive school enrollment, boost pupils’ nutrition, support local food production and encourage employment and income generation.

“NHGSFP specifically is aimed at the provision of one nutritious meal to all pupils in public primary schools in classes 1 to 3.

Umar said the ministry desired to bring Nigerians under the umbrella of the government’s social protection mechanism, to scale up the number of the pupils benefiting from the programme as directed by the presidency.

She said that President Muhammadu Buhari understood the social challenges in the country, hence the proactive and decisive measures to fight the effects of absolute poverty and its consequences.

The minister said that adequate security had been planned and that enumeration of beneficiaries and scaling up of the NHGSFP in Anambra would be a huge success.

The Programme Manager in Anambra, Mrs Uzoamaka Eriken, said the programme was going on smoothly in the state.

According to her, Anambra was the second state in Nigeria that benefited from the programme since its inception in 2016.

She said the programme had functioned well since it was transfered from the Office of the Vice President to a ministry solely in charge of the programme.

Eriken said that 1,069 public primary schools in Anambra had been listed for the programme, adding that parents were satisfied with the quality of food.

Mr Ayo Ayanda, Assistant Director, Corps Inspection and Monitoring of National Youth Service Corps in the state, said the agency had trained corp members for the work to ensure its success in the state.

Mr Charles Nwoji of the National Orientation Agency said the agency had directed all its officers across the state to enlighten the people on the programme and its benefits.

Nwoji said the agency was on ground to do its part to ensure the programme received due attention and that the people had full access to it.

The State Consultant, Mr Bernard Okafor of Net Fix Solution, said their tools were down and ready to aid in actualising the goal of the presidency in the state.

Okafor said that adequate statistics would be garnered to ensure that all areas involved in the programme in the state got sound data to assist the government to scale up the number of beneficiaries.