Sadiya Farouq, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development, the Federal Government provides 1.9 million underprivileged Nigerians with cash gifts of N5,000 each month.
This was said by the Minister on Thursday during a one-day stakeholder retreat on the Senate Committee on Social Responsibilities’ National Social Investment (Establishment) Bill.
Dr Nasir Gwarzo, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, represented Farouq at the event.
The National Social Investment Programme Establishment Bill’s purpose, according to the minister, was to establish a legal and institutional framework for the National Social Investment Plan’s implementation.
She mentioned that the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd. ), established the NSIP in 2016 to address social and economic inequities and reduce poverty among Nigerians.
She claims that four social support programs are designed to give the most vulnerable and impoverished Nigerians the tools they need to raise their standard of living.
She said, “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 forms of training 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. The NBR alone has 9, 841, 700 household individuals in the 36 states of the federal
“The Cash Transfer supports the poor and vulnerable to improve consumption and develop savings skills to reduce the 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 an unprecedented number of new enrollments as a result of the National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme.
Now, the initiative feeds 10 million students in more than 66,000 public schools throughout Nigeria. Nationwide, the initiative is steadily reducing the number of absentee children.
The minister also mentioned that 2, 653, 333 recipients had accessed GEEP loans in three different 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,” she added.
The retreat was intended to bring together key players from the executive branch of government so that they could be on equal footing with the legislative on the proposed legislation, according to Senator Yusuf Yusuf, the chairman of the Senate group.