By Chimezie Godfrey
The Federal Government has said that it is expanding the National Investment Scheme Program (NISP) to reduce unemployment and to lift more Nigerians out of poverty.
The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development,
Sadiya Umar Farouq disclosed this during a ministerial press briefing on the activities of the ministry on Monday in Abuja.
The Minister noted that the decision of the government to expand the NISP to accommodate more Nigeriana is in line with Mr President’s agenda of lifting 100million Nigerians out of poverty.
Farouq who recounted the achievements of the ministry since its inception disclosed that the ministry is also collaborating with other stakeholders to create a holistic national policy that will tackle Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development challenges in the country.
She assured that no stone will be left unturned to ensure that the vision behind the creation of the ministry which is to create sustainable and inclusive social systems that promotes human dignity in Nigeria is achieved in no distant time.
She said,”In the Ministry’s efforts, we have explored all opportunities to actively collaborate with Government MDAs and Development Partners to create employment and opportunities for Nigerian vulnerable youth.
“The National Social Investment Programmes initiated in 2016 by his Excellency Mr. President under the leadership of the Vice President with Programmes like the N-Power, Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) and Youth Employment and Social Support Operation (YESSO) have Nigerian vulnerable youth enrolled into start-ups and job placements.
“In a bid to realize Mr. President’s commitment to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in the next 10 years, the Ministry places significant emphasis on youth empowerment by strategically ascertaining youth engagement as a foundational objective in implementing the following strategies:
“Double the scope of the National Social Investment Programmes.
“Mr President has graciously approved the expansion of all NSIP programmes. Such as
Increase of N-Power beneficiaries from 500,000 to 1,000,000.
“Increase GEEP beneficiaries by 1,000,000 and increase of beneficiaries of Home-Grown School Feeding by 5,000,000.
“We continue to work with relevant partners at the National, State, and International levels to support the initiatives, which include to resettle, rehabilitate, and reintegrate IDPs, mitigation and prevention of disasters, and intensify the implementation of the strategic pillars of the Ministry.”
The minister disclosed that in championing Social Inclusion, deliberate efforts were made to capture vulnerable youth and groups which included Women, People with Special Needs, in the expansion of the National Social Register by one million households.
She also said that in the Economic Sustainability Plan that they have over 1,000,000 Urban poor in the National Social Register.
“As of June 2020, 4.41% of the total number of individuals captured in the National Social Register are recognized as Persons with Special Needs. This comes to a total of six hundred and eighty-five thousand and ninety (685,090) Persons with Special Needs in the National Social Register.
“About 3.7 million households comprising of more than 15.5 million Individuals have been captured on the National Social Register. Of that number, over 2.8 million of the households which comprise of 13.5 million Individuals are eligible for Conditional Cash Transfer.
“This numbers are spread across the 36 states and FCT. The numbers are further broken down to 7.6 million males and 7.9 million females as shown on the screen.
“In line with Mr. President’s directive to expand the National Social Register, we have developed a strategy for targeting the urban poor.
“This register will use existing databases from the National Communication’s Commission (NCC), and the Bank Verification Number (BVN) from Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS). Here we are collaborating with the Central Bank of Nigeria, and the Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy,” she said.
