THE federal government, through the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development has flagged off training for 79 independent personnel to monitor and ascertain the extent of implementation of the National Social Investment Programmes in Oyo State.
The programmes are N-POWER, National Home-Grown School Feeding (NHGSFP), Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT), and the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP)
Speaking at flag off in Ibadan on Monday, the Minister, Hajia Umar Farouq, represented by Assistant Director Planning Research and Statistics in the ministry, Jumai Abdu Ali said the NSIP was introduced by President Muhammadu Buhari with the mandate of lifting citizens out of poverty.
The minister said the 79 candidates were selected across all local government areas in Oyo State to independently monitor how the programmes were being implemented in their localities to ensure efficiency.
“For example, the National Home Grown School Feeding Programmes, we want these monitors to go to schools to observe the kind of food the children are being fed” she said.
Hajia Farouq while noting that the president was being passionate about N-SIP, said the program was all encompassing.
“We know that this program affects daily lives of people. Conditional cash transfer, market money, farmer money, trader money and N-Power for the youths are all among”
She submitted that through the programs, the president had a vision of lifting a 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in the next 10 years.
Farouq while noting that the monitoring had become expedient to evaluate the impact of the various programmes tasked the monitors on diligence and sincerity on the work, noting that President Muhammadu Buhari was keen on increasing the number of beneficiaries of the various NSIP.
She warned that monitors will be taken off the programme if found engaging in any form of malpractice or fraud and handed over for investigation and prosecution.
Contributing Oyo State Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Inclusion, Mrs Faosat Sanni, while noting that the various NSIPs had brought about tremendous change in the lives of many Nigerians, urged the federal government to expand the programme to reach more Nigerians.
In his remarks, Oyo State Director, National Orientation Agency (NOA), Moshood Olaleye, said the monitoring was expedient for the federal government to ascertain that its investment is strictly serving the purpose it is meant for.
Some of the beneficiaries, Adekambi Timileyin, Ganiyat Lecky and Adeniyi Ajani, who thanked the federal government for giving them the opportunity to serve said the training was an eye opener.
The beneficiaries, while describing the task ahead of them as a call to service to the father land, pledged to contribute their quota to national development.
