In a statement released, Monday, by Laolu Akande,
Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to
Vice president Yemi Osinbajo, the government stated
that the payment was effected through the Conditional
Cash Transfer, CCT, of the government’s Social
Investment Programmes, SIP.
According to the statement, one million Nigerians
would receive N5,000 monthly payments under the
CCT as a form of social safety net for the poorest and
most vulnerable as budgeted for in the 2016 Budget.
Mr. Akande added that many of the beneficiaries have
already reported receiving their first payments in the
first batch that commenced last week.
“In the first batch that commenced last week, nine
states would be covered, and many of the
beneficiaries have already reported receiving their
first payments by Friday last week, December 30,
2016.
“Funds for the commencement of the payments in
four states were released last week to the Nigeria
Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) – the platform
that hosts and validates payments for all
government’s social intervention programmes. Funds
for another set of five states to complete the first
batch of nine states would follow soon.”
The statement listed Borno, Kwara, Bauchi, Cross
Rivers, Niger, Kogi, Oyo, Ogun and Ekiti states as
states in the first batch to commence the CCT
statement. It however said that the states were
selected because they had a social register that
identified the vulnerable and poorest Nigerians.
“Though the sequence for the payment of the money
would be operationally managed by NIBSS,
beneficiaries in Borno, Kwara and Bauchi States have
started receiving the money. The other states in the
first batch to commence the CCT payments are Cross
Rivers, Niger, Kogi, Oyo, Ogun & Ekiti States,” Mr.
Akande said.
“The nine pilot states were chosen because they have
an existing Social Register that successfully identified
the most vulnerable and poorest Nigerians through a
tried and tested community based targeting (CBT)
method working with the World Bank. However other
states have already begun developing their Social
Registers and would be included in subsequent
phases of the CCT implementation.”
According to the statement, the federal government,
with the support of the World Bank, has adopted the
CBT for developing the social register in the other
states around the country for transparency,
objectivity and credibility in the selection of the
poorest and vulnerable Nigerians. Hence, the federal
government will soon commence community
mobilisation for the creation of the register in more
states, to expand the scope and reach of the CCT
across the country.
Other states listed to have complied with the
stipulated framework provided and are set for the
community based targeting method for development
of social register include Plateau, Jigawa, Adamawa,
Anambra, Benue, Enugu, Katsina and Taraba States.
These states, Mr. Akande said, are to be followed by
Delta, Gombe, Kaduna, Kano, Imo and Ogun States.
The government also assured that once the
information garnered are entered into the social
register, cash transfers would be disbursed to
beneficiaries.
“Once the community mobilisation, identification and
selection processes are completed, the information
garnered from the poorest households would be
entered onto the Social Register in the
states and the National Register at NIBSS, after which
the cash transfers would be disbursed to the
beneficiaries.”
The statement also disclosed that funds approved for
the SIP are domiciled with the Ministry of Budget and
National Planning.
Meanwhile, the federal government said that with the
commencement of the CCT, the Buhari administration
is now implementing four of the federal government’s
SIP.
Mr. Akande said the N-Power Volunteer Corps
designed to hire half a million unemployed graduates
has now engaged 200,000, and the National
Homegrown School Feeding Programme now runs in
three states.
He said the Buhari administration has also kicked-off
the Government Enterprise and Empowerment
Programme, GEEP.
“Under GEEP, soft loans ranging from N10,000 to
100,000 have been designed for artisans, traders,
market women among others. Already, thousands of
cooperatives, market women associations, farmers
and enterprising youths, have been identified and
registered for the purpose, on an ongoing basis, and
the disbursement of the soft loans through the Bank
of Industry have started since Nov 25, 2016.
“At the last count, for the first phase, beneficiaries
have been drawn from the Federal Capital Territory,
FCT, Abia, Adamawa, Bauchi, Delta, Imo, Kwara,
Kano, Katsina, Lagos, Osun, Oyo, Ogun and Kogi
States.”
The statement however said that regarding the GEEP,
disbursements were halted and deferred until after the
festive season but vetting and approval of
beneficiaries are now being continued
Commenting on the 200,000 beneficiaries of the N-
power programme, Mr. Akande said about 100,000
graduates have been physically verified, adding that
they have started receiving their N30,000 stipends.
“Regarding the 200,000 beneficiaries of the N-Power
programme, close to 50 per cent of the graduates,
have now been physically verified, and started
receiving their monthly stipends of N30,000 last
week. A second batch of 300,000 unemployed
graduates are expected to be
selected early this year to make up the half a million
target set by the Buhari administration.
“The verified graduates are now being deployed to
work as assistant teachers in schools, as community
health aides and as agricultural extension workers, in
more than 20 States of the Federation. These sates
include; Abia, Adamawa, Bauchi, Anambra, Benue,
Cross Rivers, Borno, Gombe, Edo, Jigawa, Katsina,
Plateau, Kogi, Osun, Rivers, Zamfara, Niger, Sokoto,
Ogun and Taraba.”
In the same vein, the government said it has also
started the implementation of the National Home-
grown School Feeding programme designed to feed
5.5 million school children for 200 school days in the
first phase of the programme. According to the
statement, the initial design was to
feed pupils in 18 States but funding challenges had
affected an earlier take-off. It however said that the
programme has now commenced in Osun, Kaduna
and Anambra States, adding that more states are
expected to join this new year.
The federal government reiterated its commitment to
touching the lives of millions of vulnerable Nigerians,
especially in the new year, in fulfilment of its Change
agenda.
“In the new year, it is the plan of the Federal
Government to scale up the implementation of the SIP
to touch the lives of millions of Nigerians in fulfilment
of its promises and in furtherance of its Change
agenda,” Mr. Akande said.
No comments:
Post a Comment