NAN-H-143
Fund
By Angela Atabo
Abuja, March 1, 2017 (NAN) Mrs Maryam Uwais, Special Assistant to the President on Social Protection, said the Presidency was yet to access the 500 million dollars World Bank fund to aid the special protection scheme.
Uwaise made this known in Abuja on Wednesday at an interactive meeting with civil society organisations under the aegis of Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room.
She, however, disclosed that the World Bank had been supporting the programme with technical expertise for proper coordination of operations of the scheme.
Uwais said that the programme took off in December, 2016 with N80 billion released by the Federal Government out of the N500 billion earmarked for it.
She said the money was used to run four units of the scheme – N-Power, Conditional Cash Transfer, Home Grown School Feeding Programme and the Government Enterprise Empowerment Programme.
According to her, five major interventions were set aside to be carried out by the scheme and apart from N-Power that started in December, three schemes commenced in January, 2017, with the fifth yet to start.
The president’s aide said that 200, 000 persons across the country had benefited from the N-Power scheme, with 150, 000 people involved in teaching.
She said that 30,000 benefited in agricultural business while 20,000 benefited in health duties, adding that 69,870 persons had so far benefited in the Conditional Cash Transfer scheme in nine pilot states.
She disclosed that 3,448,657 primary schools pupils were being fed at the cost of N70 per meal for 200 days in the five states where the programme had taken off, adding that 31,551 cooks had been recruited so far.
“The scheme is working although people are being sceptical about it because of previous schemes that failed. The truth is that this very scheme is not being run like the ones they knew.
“We try as much as possible to ensure that the selection process is open and transparent, so it is done through the portal.
“You don’t have to know anybody and most of them are not based on quota system.
“It is only the cash transfer that is based on quota, that is 80 people per ward in a state and they must meet the criteria before payment is made to them.
“They register using their numbers and their Bank Verification Number to authenticate the individuals and once we find out any incorrect information, payment will be withheld,’’ Uwais said.
She attributed the seeming lack of awareness of the program to sabotage by politicians, who tried to divert it to their people.
She, however, stated that the situation had been salvaged and that access to the funds and other benefits of the programme were rightly being given to qualified persons.
Uwais said that the government was working to ensure that poverty was reduced in Nigeria, adding that 58 million people had been considered as “very poor’’ in the country.
She urged Nigerians to support and participate in the schemes so as to improve their economic situation, assuring of transparency in the programme.
She pointed out that the sustainability of the programme would depend on its appreciation by citizens, saying “if they appreciate it, they will insist on its retention’’.
Earlier in his remarks, Mr Clement Nwankwo, Executive Director, Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre and convener of the session, said the meeting was organised to create awareness on the social protection programme of the government.
Nwankwo said that the session was also to assess the effectiveness of the programme, its reach and the possibility that it would become an equitable program, running without isolating or excluding any part of those that should benefit from.
“But, most important is the question of `how do you empower the people at the grassroots economically?’ and to get them go out and cast their votes without the possibility of vote being bought.
“Any program of the government that supports lifting of the disadvantaged from the bottom of poverty into self-sufficiency becomes very important for us,’’ he said.
He said that the group craved for equitable reach of the scheme and increase in the amount of money paid to beneficiaries, and urged well-meaning Nigerians to support the programme. (NAN)
ATAB/OPI/OPI
Edited by Olisa Ifeajika