FG, stakeholders interface on implementation of NSIP in states

The Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development has met with stakeholders on the implementation of the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP) in states across the federation.

Speaking during the meeting held Tuesday in Abuja, the Permanent Secretary, Dr. Nasir Sani-Gwarzo, represented by the Director, Special Needs, Mrs Nkechi Onwukwe, said that the primary goal of the ministry was to meet the needs of the people “who need a helping hand from Government to restore hope, provide support and succor, as well as an enabling environment for recovery, rehabilitation and social inclusion, while ensuring their human dignity is upheld at all times.”

He said: “The activities of the Ministry constantly impact on the well-being of the indigent citizens and contributes to the socio-economic development of the country and in order for the Ministry to effectively provide the desired and much needed coordination and leadership it was conceived to provide, it must have an effective and consistent means of appraising its activities. 

“Since inception, we have achieved a lot in the area of the provision and effective coordination of humanitarian interventions in keeping with our mandate. We have also been able to provide coordination through cooperation and partnerships with relevant government MDA’s, development partners, UN Agencies and other strategic partners. This is all in a bid to ensure sustained and expanded social protection programmes, prompt emergency response services, and appropriately targeted humanitarian interventions.

“The National Social Investment Programme (NSIP) is the biggest social protection and poverty eradication programme ever put in place by any government in Nigeria and one of the biggest in Africa, it was established by President Buhari in 2016 to address immediate and long-term socio-economic imbalances and inequalities, alleviate poverty, and stimulate accelerated economic growth. The NSIP has four main clusters as earlier mentioned i.e. N-Power, National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP), Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) and the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP).

“Each of the programmes has been carefully designed to address specific socio – economic challenges and protect Nigerians from poverty, economic shocks and social exclusion by increasing the income and livelihood of the poor and vulnerable households, reducing youth unemployment, increasing access to education and health services, eradicating malnutrition in school age children and improving enrollment of School age Children, and providing affordable credit for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).

“In addition to these suites of programmes, the Federal Government, in partnership with the World Bank, established the National Social Safety Nets Programmes (NASSP), which created for the first time the National Social Register (NSR) of the poor and vulnerable households and individuals nationwide.

“It is against this background that we are partnering with the relevant agencies in carrying out the compliance check of the implementation guidelines of all our programmes and to develop a standard and effective compliance check structure for the various NSIP assignments.

“Our primary goal is to meet the needs of the people who need a helping hand from Government to restore hope, provide support and succor, as well as an enabling environment for recovery, rehabilitation and social inclusion, while ensuring their human dignity is upheld at all times.”

Also speaking, the president of the Centre for Ethical Rebirth Among Nigerian Youths (CERANY), Mr Chuks Akamadu, said the ministry has laid a foundation of accountability in many of its programmes that is worthy of emulation by other MDAs.

“This meeting is something to cheer about because the ministry recognizes the need for accountability in its activities. I especially commend President Muhammadu Buhari for establishing the ministry in 2019. The foundation of accountability is being laid by the ministry in many of its programmes and it is worthy of emulation by other MDAs. This gathering is all-inclusive as almost every organiz0ation is represented here. Therefore, we are grateful to be considered by the ministry and included in its programmes,” he said.