The National Coordinator of the National Social Investment program (NSIP), Dr. Umar Bindr has stated that, all the NSIP Clusters, including the Npower, Home Grown School Feeding Programme (HGSFP), Government Enterprise Empowerment Program (GEEP) and the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) recognise a clear democratic structure as their guiding principles.
Bindr who disclosed that the NSIP accommodates beneficiaries from the 36 states of the federation, FCT and the 774 local government areas, said the creation of the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, by President Muhammadu Buhari has boosted poverty alleviation while guaranteeing sustainability.
This is just as he added, that the NSIP has equally led them to the implementation experience to recognise the need to structure poverty alleviation properly within the government.
Bindiri pointed out, that through relevant agencies the Ministry has been able to come up with a social register which powers the four clusters, of the NSIP, so as to know who is poor and who is not poor.
On how the programme can be evaluated, Bindiri said “the index of measurement as we proceed in the NSIP is that bag of the Social register shrinking or increasing. If it is increasing, then we have to think again; if it is shrinking, then we must be doing something right”.
The NSIP coordinator who made this known while speaking on a national Television programme at the weekend, stated that these clusters have benefited a large number of young graduates across the country.
It will be recalled that about 500, 000 beneficiaries have exited from the batches A and B of the N-Power programme while the on boarding of batch C beneficiaries has commenced.
According to Dr. Bindr, a total of one million young graduate, in two streams of 500, 000 each, will enrol under the Batch C of the N-Power program
Tracing THE origin and philosophy of the NSIP, Dr. Bindr said: “In the wisdom of Mr President, he introduced this social intervention programme as an intervention to close those big potholes and allow the implementing ministries to continue.
“This is the wisdom of introducing the NSIP and the government said, narrow it down to four clusters areas: clusters that actually look at the provision of skills to the people”.
Noting that graduates need further skills to become entrepreneurs which NSIP offers, he added that “graduates require practical skills to become employable, to provide goods and services.
According to him, Npower program for instance, compliments other structured federal ministries to create jobs in the country.
The coordinator stated that while the structured ministries focus on their areas of specialisation, NSIP goes a lot further to narrow the job processes into clusters.
“Even if you add all these implemented program and projects which is still in process, it is very high. If you add all of them together, you will now start seeing flashpoints of poverty, huge gaps in unemployment based on low skills”
Bindiri pointed out that .there is vulnerability that has to do with women, particularly rural women, adding that if you are to leave this to be implemented by structured ministries, it will be so overloaded, that the impact will not be as much felt.
Listing the different stages of Npower clusters, he said “First is the provisions of skill acquisition. The next cluster is to provide access for micro credits to participants. The third is where you have off taking cluster facility. Here, we kill many birds with one stone. It is the cloud of poverty that empowers the four clusters. It is the national poverty register, using all relevant information to nominate who is poor and who is not. That social register provides the information for N-Power to work. We are using all relevant agencies to identify who is poor. That social register provides the facility”, Bindiri emphasised.
