Beneficiaries of the National Social Investment Programmes (N-SIPs) in Kano, on Monday came out in large numbers at Murtala Mohammed Library to pray for President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo over their success at the 2019 polls.
The special prayer organized by the beneficiaries themselves witnessed a large turnout of people led by different Islamic scholars, officials of the programme and thousands of beneficiaries.
Shortly after the prayer session, participants at the event separately paid tributes to President Buhari and Vice President Osinbajo for the success of the programmes, urging them to sustain the schemes.
Speaking to newsmen on behalf of beneficiaries at the prayer event, Mr. Maitala Bawa, thanked the President and the Vice President for the introduction and implementation of the National Social Investment Programmes, acknowledging the impact it has had on many individuals, families and communities.
He said that the various components namely: N-Power job scheme, the Home-Grown School Feeding Programme, Conditional Cash Transfer, and the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) schemes – TraderMoni, MarketMoni and FarmerMoni, have been very helpful to many poor Nigerians.
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Mr. Bawa also commended the efforts of the coordinators at all levels and urged them not to rest on their oars in the Next Level of the Buhari administration.
Earlier at the event, Barr. Ismaeel Ahmed, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on SIPs, said “the National Social Investment Programmes have impacted many lives across the country and plans are underway to improve on the gains recorded in the past three years”.
He said several persons have been engaged or empowered through the various components of the administration’s social welfare programme, noting that all aspects of the scheme would be improved upon in the Next Level.
“N-Power scheme currently engages 18,594 graduates in Kano State, while 1,043,014 children are being provided meals in public primary schools across the state,” he said.
According to him, “the Cash Transfers initiative has 51,350 households as beneficiaries spread across a total of 1,651 communities in Kano. Over 180,000 traders are currently benefitting from the Trader Moni programme and we are hoping to engage more people in the state.”
“In the next four years we will escalate the numbers especially for N-power we are recruiting another 120, 000 or more. We know that Kano being the largest state is going to receive the lion share as well.
“To round-up our programme for the conditional cash transfer from 15 local government, we are going to spread to all 44 local government areas of the state this year to make sure that every nook and cranny of Kano that are devastated with poverty are touched.
“The TraderMoni too is going to be increased, because we intend to give another 2 million people loans this year,” he added.
Ahmed urged all beneficiaries, including those in Kano, to pray for the success of the programme in the Next Level and for President Buhari, noting that “the President needed prayers, not only for good health, but for divine guidance and protection to succeed in his second term”.
According to him, “Nigerians, irrespective of their religion or political inclination must continue to pray for the President, noting that the nation is undergoing positive changes under his leadership.”
