The National Coordinator and Chief Executive Officer of the National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA), Mrs Halima Shehu, on Wednesday, offered explanations as to why schemes initiated by the federal government to mitigate poverty have not met the expectations of Nigerians.
Speaking while making presentations before the Senate during her screening ahead of confirmation, the Chief Executive Officer noted that the programmes have not been implemented logically.
Criticisms have been trailing the implementation of the social investment programmes aimed at pulling Nigerians out of poverty.
Programmes under the NSIP include N-Power, the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP), the National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP), and the Conditional Cash Transfer.
A bill to transfer the control and supervision of programmes under the NSIP from the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs to the Presidency, sponsored by Senate Leader, Senator Michael Opeyemi Bamidele, recently passed a second reading.
Mrs Shehu, who enumerated the four components of the social scheme, further explained why the target audience continues to lament.
She said, “I would like to let you know that there are four components of the social investment programmes, each targeting a different type of group.
“The programmes are structured and have a design, but unfortunately, none of the programmes have been taken to their logical conclusion. It is only when all of the components of the programme have been taken to their logical conclusion that you will find the impacts in these households.
“I will start with the Conditional Cash Transfer programme, which targets the poorest of the poor in the remotest parts of the country with a N5,000 bi-monthly stipend. This is just for normal consumption.
“The next component, which is supposed to completely uplift the household out of poverty, is the human capital development component of the programme.
“While all the poor and vulnerable that have been enrolled in the programme are entitled to N5,000, the next component of the programme is not for every household.
“A household has to enrol with full responsibility before they are entitled to this grant. That is what they call the top-up, and that is the part that completely alleviates the poor and vulnerable out of poverty.
“The next component is livelihood, which is a one-off grant of N150,000 to the household that has keyed into the coaching and skill acquisition they have been taught.
“So none of these programmes has been taken to its logical conclusion.”
The President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, said in his remarks that the implementation of the scheme has not been transparent.
“I don’t know whether the programme or programmes were intentionally designed to be complicated enough to confuse citizens because this is the first time I have heard that within the programme is embedded the one known as livelihood.
“So, the entirety of the programme will have to be reviewed.”
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