Osogbo, July 1, 2023: Mr Kehinde Ibitoye, Osun State Focal Person, National Social Investment Programme (NSIP), said Nigeria’s social investment programmes have been alleviating poverty and impacting lives in the state and Nigeria in general.
He stated on Saturday that the federal government’s social Investment programmes were real, impactful and truly eradicating poverty, especially in Osun state and Nigeria at large.
He applauded the government for the NSIP initiative and also commended the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development for the efficient implementation of the scheme.
Highlighting the impact of the NSIP in Osun State, he said the FG National Home Grown School Feeding programme (NHGSFP), has covered about 1,312 schools and fed 95,983 pupils.
He said efforts were also in top gear to capture all pupils in public primary schools from classes 1-3, as they progress with the NHGSFP.
He also added that there would be an upward review of the current N100 per child, so as to improve the programme delivery/results and meet up with the aims and objectives of the Federal Government.
“There is the need to do an upward review, from N100 school feeding budget per child, considering the current cost of living in the country.” he said
Speaking on the N-Power scheme, Ibitoye said there are 14,600 beneficiaries from Osun, for the Batch C programme of the scheme.
He also added that 15,522 poor and vulnerable persons from Osun, are captured and benefitting from the FG Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programme.
He said more beneficiaries were, however, expected to be added to the CCT beneficiaries from the National Social Register.
He stated that the CCT program is making a huge impact in the lives of the poor and vulnerable women in the rural communities.
Speaking on the Government Enterprise and Empowerment programme (GEEP), he said the first batch was implemented in Osun between 2017 and 2018, in which over 25,000 small traders and artisans benefited.
He said the GEEP, which comes in three schemes (the Tradermoni, Marketmoni and Farmermoni) and with a zero interest loan between N50,000 to N300,000, has now been reviewed, restructured and rebooted.
He stated that there is an ongoing registration of small traders, artisans, poor women and rural farmers across the 30 local government areas of the state for the GEEP.
Ibitoye said the public would be updated on the progress of the GEEP and other programmes, thanking Gov. Ademola Adeleke of Osun for giving them maximum support and partnering with the FG in the effective implementation of the social investment programmes.
