TheCable

Sadiya Umar Farouq, minister of humanitarian affairs, disaster management and social development, has taken charge of the social investment programmes (SIP).

Ahead of this, Farouq met with Maryam Uwais, special adviser to the president on social investment, on Monday.

Until recently, the SIP was being coordinated by the office of Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo.

But in his Independence Day broadcast, Buhari had announced that the newly created ministry would be in charge of the scheme.

“Our ongoing N500 billion Special Intervention Programme continues to target these vulnerable groups, through the Home-grown School Feeding Programme, Government Economic Empowerment Programme, N-Power Job Creation Programme, loans for traders and artisans, Conditional Cash Transfers to the poorest families and social housing scheme,” he had said.

“To institutionalize these impactful programmes, we created the Ministry for Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development which shall consolidate and build on our achievements to date. To the beneficiaries of these programmes, I want to reassure you that our commitment to social inclusion will only increase.”

The minister, who was out of the country for a UN campaign against poverty, tweeted pictures of the meeting with Uwais.

“It is a busy week. #MovingForward, I met with the SSA to @MBuhari on  @NSIP_NG. She briefed me on the activities, programmes, achievements and challenges of the establishment. NSIP manages Social Investment Programmes in Nigeria & is presently under the purview of the @FMHDSD,” she tweeted. 

It is a busy week. #MovingForward, I met with the SSA to @MBuhari on @NSIP_NG . She briefed me on the activities, programmes, achievements and challenges of the establishment. NSIP manages Social Investment Programmes in Nigeria & is presently under the purview of the @FMHDSD pic.twitter.com/zhpIU3ePQh

— Sadiya Umar Farouq (@Sadiya_farouq) October 14, 2019

Last week, there were rumours that the president would take the minister as second wife. Pictures and videos were all over social media but checks by TheCable showed that they were false.