Hajia Sadiya Farouq, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development, stated this at the Senate Committee on Social Duties' One-Day Stakeholders' Retreat On National Social Investment (Establishment) Bill.
Dr. Nasir Gwarzo, the ministry's Permanent Secretary, represented Farouq.
The minister explained that the National Social Investment Programme Establishment Bill's goal was to provide a statutory and institutional framework for the National Social Investment Programme's implementation.
She stated that the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd. ), established the NSIP in 2016 to address social and economic inequalities and alleviate poverty among Nigerians.
According to her, there are four social support programmes that are meant to empower the poorest and most vulnerable Nigerians to enable them to attain an acceptable standard of living.
She said the NSIP was directly and indirectly impacting the lives of poor Nigerians through its four cluster programmes .
These, she said, included the N-Power Programme, Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme, the National Home Grown School Feeding Programme, and the Conditioner Cash Transfer Programme.
The programmes, she added, were designed to serve as various forms of social safety nets specifically targeting those at the bottom of the social ladder who require some form of assistance to enable them to become productive members of society and prevent more people from falling below poverty line.
She said, “A wide range of Sustainable Development Goals including poverty reduction, education, health, social inclusion and empowerment can be achieved through the NSIP.
“Section 17(3) of the constitution provides that the State shall direct its policy towards ensuring that all its citizens without discrimination have the opportunity of securing adequate means of livelihood and ensuring provision is made for public assistance in deserving cases of need among others.
“Contributory social protection schemes such as Social insurance, health insurance, and the pension scheme are all backed by legislation. The laws are, The Nigeria Social insurance Trust Fund Act, the National Health Insurance Authority Act, and the Pension Reform Act.
“The NSIP, which is a non-contributory social protection scheme is not backed by any law and this underscores the need for it to also have a piece of legislation.
“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 training under the programme as approved by the President.
She noted that the cash transfer has enrolled 1,975, 381 poor and vulnerable households from the National Social Register into a National Beneficiary Register across the country.
She added that the Cash Transfer supports the poor and vulnerable to improve consumption and develop savings skills to reduce poverty 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.
“The programme is currently feeding 10 million pupils in over 66, 000 public schools across Nigeria. The programme is gradually reducing cases of out-of-school children nationwide,” she added.
According to her, 2,653,333 beneficiaries have accessed the GEEP loans under three 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”
The Chairman of the Senate panel, Senator Yusuf Yusuf, explained that the retreat was aimed at bringing together critical stakeholders from the executive arm of government to be at par with the legislature on the proposed legislation.
Yusuf said, “Information is a very important tool for legislation. Since the government policy emanates from legislation, we invited critical stakeholders from the ministry and other agencies so that they can furnish the committee with vital information that would enable them to come up with a robust legislation for the NSIP establishment.”