Mrs Maryam Uwais, presidential aide on National Social Investment Programmes (NSIP), says that the Federal Government has captured 455,000 vulnerable households in the National Social Register.

Speaking to newsmen while presenting the scorecard of the NSIP at the state House, Uwais stated that no fewer than 297,973 households had been mined and being paid stipends in 20 states.

According to her there are no fewer than 80 million poor Nigerians and the office want to get the poorest persons data using appropriate means.

“So far, we have 455,857 poor and vulnerable households uploaded onto the National Social Register, from which 297,973 households have been mined and are being paid stipends in 20 states.

“These states are Jigawa, Bauchi State, Kogi, Osun, Cross Rivers, Anambra, Katsina State, Kano State, Taraba, Gombe State, Adamawa, Niger, Nassarawa State, Benue, Oyo State, Ekiti, Kwara, Borno (IDP), Kaduna State and Plateau,” she added.

She observed that credible targeting was a major concern in National Cash Transfer Programme, prompting the National Social Investment Office (NSIO) to develop a Social Register in all the states that met the criteria provided in the agreement signed with it.

Uwais also disclosed that 259,541 beneficiaries in 4,784 cooperatives were paid in the Government Enterprise and Empowerment in 36 states and FCT while the next batch of 148,611 loans had been approved for disbursement.

In the National Home Grown School Feeding (NHGSFP), Uwais stated that 7,054,687 pupils were currently being fed daily in 20 states with two states (Katsina State and Gombe State) to begin soon.

“We have also hired and empowered 72,510 cooks in the 53,541 schools being serviced.

“These states are: Anambra, Enugu State, Oyo State, Osun, Ogun, Ebonyi, Zamfara, Delta, Abia, Benue, Plateau, Bauchi State, Taraba, Kaduna State, Akwa-Ibom, Cross River, Imo, Jigawa, Niger and Kano State.”

She noted that in almost two years into the implementation of the programmes, the NSIO was continuously learning lessons and building bridges designed to achieve its overarching goals.

The Presidential Aide acknowledged that no fewer than 200,000 graduates were enrolled in the N-Power job scheme with 20,000 beneficiaries in the non-graduate category set to begin training in 34 states.

She noted that the organisation already had 2.5 million young people in its data base for employment.

Uwais said the Humanitarian Hub in Adamawa State, supported by the International Committee of the Red Cross, Presidential Committee on the North East Initiative and National Emergency Management Agency, had already selected successful applications and had prepared for the first batch of pitches.

She added that the Lagos Climate Change Hub, supported by the World Bank and the Lagos Business School, would throw open it’s challenges in March as the other six situated in the six geo-political zones were at various stages of development.

She identified the goals as empowering the unemployed, giving opportunities to children who could not or did not have access to a meal a day and also providing sustenance for the poor and the vulnerable.

She included granting access to small and medium-sized enterprises that were hitherto unable to gain access to finance.

“We have trained 2,495 community facilitators, whose responsibility it is to engage the caregivers in the households being paid, facilitate the forming of cooperatives, basic financial training, skills and support.

“We also have collated data on the coordinates and demographics on each community we engage, relating to education, health, access, payment and connectivity.

“What we have achieved thus far is a result of the dedication of an extraordinary, indefatigable and focused team of staff and the strong support of our top leadership, in the persons of the president and vice-president of Nigeria.

“We have created a level-playing field for all our beneficiaries and, with a selection process that is objective, transparent and efficient,” the presidential aide said. (NAN)

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