The Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Investment, on Friday engaged 206 independent monitors in Lagos State to track the various packages from the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP) for the vulnerable members of the society.
This is in line with President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration vision of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty.
Speaking at the event for the distribution of engagement letters and tablets to the trained independent monitors in Lagos, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development , Sadiya Farouq, explained that the NSIP was created by the President in 2016 to lift citizens out of poverty.
She said the programmes include the job creation programme — N-POWER, National Home Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP), Conditional Cash Transfer Programme (CCT) and the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP).
Farouq, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Bashir Nura Alkali, said, ‘’We flagged off the training of 5,000 Independent Monitors for the National Social Investment Programme in Abuja on Thursday, February 4, 2021.
“The training was carried out across the Country from February 2021 to April 2021.
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‘’Today, I am here to flag off the distribution of engagement letters and devices for the trained independent monitors in Lagos State. These devices are equipped with an application that will be used to report on monitoring activities of the trained independent monitors.
“Let me also say that all devices to be used for monitoring the programme are locally made in Nigeria and the monitoring application was designed by an indigenous company.’’
“Each Independent monitor is expected to monitor a designated number of beneficiaries of the National Social Investment Programme,” she said.
‘’They will be paid a monthly stipend of N30,000, and they must meet up to 80 per cent of their deliverables monthly to be eligible for their stipend,’’ she said.
The minister warned the independent monitors not to assign their responsibilities to third parties, adding that every independent monitor will be held accountable by the ministry for the task given to them.
‘’The duration of your assignment is for one year, from June 2021 to May 2022,’’ she said.
In his remarks, the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-OIu represented by his Special Adviser on Housing Mrs. Toke Benson-Awoyinka applauded the Federal Government for the commitment it has demonstrated torwards achieving the desired objective of the Programme which is geared to lift the vulnerable people out of poverty.
‘’I am happy to note that since the commencement of this programme in Lagos State over 6,800 of our people have continued to benefit from regular cash transfer in four bi-monthly cycles under the Conditional Cash Transfer Programme, ’’ he said.
