The Federal government says it has spent more than N18 billion on more than 183,193 beneficiaries of the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP) in Niger.
Hajiya Amina Gu’ar, the Focal Person of Social Investment Programme (SIP) in Niger, said this during a road walk to showcase the impact of the programmes in Niger in Minna on Saturday.
Reports have it that SIP was established in 2016 by the federal government to tackle poverty and hunger across the country
Gu’ar listed the four components of the programmes to include National Home Grown School Feeding, N-power, Conditional Cash Transfer and Government Enterprise Empowerment (GEEP).
She said that more than 80,000 households were benefitting from Conditional Cash Transfer, 14,000 beneficiaries of school feeding, 25,888 beneficiaries of N-Power and 62,112 beneficiaries for GEEP across the state.
Gu’ar also said that the programmes had impacted positively by improving the living condition of the poor and the vulnerable across the state and the country at large to become self-sufficient.
She appreciated President Muhammadu Buhari for the initiative and Gov. Abubakar Sani-Bello of Niger for his support as well as the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Social Development Sadiya Farouq, for spearheading the programmes.
In his remarks, Dr Nasir Gwarzo, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Social Development, represented by Abubakar Sadiq, lauded Niger government for a successful implementation of the programmes.
Similarly, Umar Shaba, the state Programme Manager of the School Feeding programme, noted that Niger had been adjudged best in the successful implementation of the school feeding programme across the country.
Mrs Bilikisu Idris, one of the beneficiary of the Conditional Cash Transfer, said that the intervention had helped her to enroll her children in school as well as used the stipend being paid to her to purchase a sewing machine to start a business.
“I have been a beneficiary of the programme for the past three years, before, I was finding it difficult to live but with this intervention, life has become easier for me and my family,” she said.
Another beneficiary of the N-Power, Mr Sani Idris, said that he used the monthly stipend paid to him to sponsor his younger brothers to the universities as well as open a shop to start up a business.
Also, Mrs Talatu Suleiman, a food vendor, appreciated the federal government for the initiative, adding that the intervention had helped her to send two of her children to the university.
“Before the intervention, life was not easy for me and my family, but since I got the job as a cook for school feeding, life has become very comfortable for me,” she said.
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