TheCable

The federal government says 1.94 million Nigerians are currently receiving N5,000 cash gifts on a monthly basis as part of the national cash transfer programme for vulnerable people.

Sadiya Farouq, minister of humanitarian affairs, disaster management and social development, spoke at a one-day stakeholders’ retreat on the national social investment (establishment) bill.

The retreat was organised by the senate committee on social duties, and Farouq was represented by Nasir Gwarzo, permanent secretary of the ministry.

The minister said the objective of the national social investment programme establishment bill was to provide a statutory and institutional framework for the implementation of the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP).

She said President Muhammadu Buhari established NSIP in 2016 to address social and economic inequalities as well as alleviate poverty among Nigerians.

Farouq said there are four social support programs in place to help the poorest and most vulnerable Nigerians achieve an acceptable standard of living.

She added that the NSIP was directly and indirectly impacting on the lives of poor Nigerians through its four cluster programmes, which include the N-power programme, Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP), the national home-grown school feeding programme (NHGSFP) and the conditioner cash transfer programme (CCTP).

“A wide range of sustainable development goals including poverty reduction, education, health, social inclusion and empowerment can be achieved through the NSIP,” Farouq said.

“Contributory social protection schemes such as social insurance, health insurance, and the pension scheme are all backed by legislation. The laws are: The Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund Act, the National Health Insurance Authority Act, and the Pension Reform Act.

“The NSIP, which is a non-contributory social protection scheme is not backed by any law and this underscores the need for it to also have a piece of legislation.

“Since the inception of the NSIP in 2015, one million youths have been empowered through the N-power programme and additional 500,000 others are currently undergoing various trainings under the programme as approved by the president.

“The cash transfer has enrolled 1,975, 381 poor and vulnerable households from the national social register into a national beneficiary register [NBR]. The NBR alone has 9,841, 700 household individuals in the 36 states of the federation.

“The cash transfer supports the poor and vulnerable to improve consumption and develop savings skills to reduce poverty line and build their resilience to withstand shocks.

“A total of 1,940,004 beneficiaries are currently receiving cash transfers each month. Public primary schools across the country have witnessed unprecedented number of new enrollments as a result of the national home-grown school feeding programme.

“The programme  is currently feeding 10 million pupils in over 66,000 public schools across Nigeria. The programme is gradually reducing cases of out-of-school children nationwide.

“Currently, 2,653,333, beneficiaries have accessed the GEEP loans under three categories including Trader Moni, Market Moni, and Farmer Moni. A total of 1,142,783 individuals across the country have registered to benefit from the second round of GEEP under the three loan programmes.”