FG Trains 350 as NSIP Mobile Money Agents in North-west

By Olawale Ajimotokan

The federal government has initiated training of 350 agents for mobile money transactions in the North-west zone of the country under the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP).

The programme was flagged off in Kano yesterday by the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Ms. Sadiya Umar Farouq.

She said that the youth empowerment programme was designed to address youth restiveness, generate gainful employment and create wealth nationwide.

She added that the Buhari Administration had paid more attention towards alleviating poverty among the vulnerable in society.

“The Mobile Money Agents’ Programme was introduced in 2020 to sustain the social inclusion agenda of President Buhari’s Administration. It is consistent with the President’s vision of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty by 2030,” Farouq said.

She stressed that the programme was designed to empower unemployed youths and develop their competence to operate as registered mobile money agents. The minister added that the training “will enable the beneficiaries to meet the minimum technical and business requirements for becoming mobile money agents and enhance their entrepreneurial competence to successfully start and manage mobile money businesses.”

Earlier, the State’s Focal Person, Mr. Baba Aminu Zubair, stated that Kano State has mostly benefited from federal government’s Social Investment Programmes.

Zubair said that 11 schools currently have STEM Centres with 214 students as beneficiaries while 154,000 poor and vulnerable from 15 local government councils received conditional cash transfer.

Upon concluding the five-day training, the beneficiaries would be formally registered with the Shared Agency Network Expansion Facility (SANEF) as mobile money agents and would be provided with start-up kits including a Point-of-Sale (POS) machine, fingerprint scanner, chairs, tables and umbrellas and a token of N20,000.00.

A total of 1,850 youths selected from the 36 states and the FCT would be trained in payments through the network of agents providing financial-related services under other components of NSIP with 350 of them from Kaduna, Katsina, Kano, Kebbi, Sokoto, Jigawa and Zamfara states.