Igbawase Ukumba in Lafia
No fewer than 200,000 beneficiaries of the National Social Investment Programme at the weekend thronged the Lafia Township Square in Nasarawa State to appreciate President Muhammadu Buhari for ‘lifting the poor and vulnerable persons out of poverty in the state’.
The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq, also joined the beneficiaries to thank the president at a rally in Lafia.
Speaking at the event, the minister explained that the total number of beneficiaries of N-Power, Government Enterprise Empowerment Programme, Conditional Cash Transfer and the National Home Grown School Feeding programme has helped the administration to wade out of recession.
Farouq said: “The National Social Investment Programme is unprecedented in the history of previous Nigerian Governments. The programme has helped to alleviate abject poverty in the country.
“Your excellency, let me state that since independence, no government has done what you have done for the poor people in this country. Without fear of contradiction, Your Excellency, you have done so much for the poor and vulnerable in your primary constituency.
“I stand here on behalf of the poor and vulnerable in this country, who are mostly the beneficiaries of our National Social Investment Programmes, to appreciate you. If you look to the far left, you will see them waving as they appreciate you. They are very grateful to you for all the good things you have done for them under your administration.
She explained further to President Buhari that under the National Social Investment
Programme, there are four clusters: The N-Power Programme, the Conditional Cash Transfer Programme which gives two million households N5, 000 monthly.
She continued that the NSIP gives N30,000 monthly to its N-Power youths, and so far, the programme had 1.5 million of them, even as they have also been able to target small and medium entrepreneurs and given them surplus collateral free and interest free loans from N50,000 to N300,000 for them to start their businesses.
According to the minister, “Under the National Home Grown School Feeding Programme, we also feed Primary 1 to 3 school pupils on school days. We have close to 10 million of these pupils.
“Your excellency, these are some of the parents of these pupils we feed daily. These are some of the people who receive N5,000 monthly. These are some of those who receive N30,000 monthly to teach their children and contribute to the GDP and development of this country.”
Frouk maintained that it was no wonder that when Nigeria went into recession, it immediately came out of it because it was that money that people used to fend for themselves and members of their families.
“Your Excellency, this is why we are here to ask for the consolidation of these achievements, and to continue these programmes so that Nigerians will benefit from them,” Farouq appealed to Buhari.
