Humanitarian Affairs Minister, Sadiya Umar Farouq, has denied an allegation that over N1 trillion injected into the Federal Government’s Social Investment Programme (SIP) has been looted by politicians and public servants in the Muhammadu Buhari administration.
Farouq responded to Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, who reportedly made the allegation while addressing a mammoth crowd during the launch of the Kaura Economic Empowerment (KEEP) programme on Wednesday at the Misau township stadium, Bauchi.
“…corruption has already crashed the Federal Government’s SIP programme to its knees,” Mohammed was quoted to have said at the event.
“…today, the social investment programme has collapsed and nobody is getting anything.
“It does not matter how much we are spending, we are not spending the one trillion and five hundred billion the federal government is spending which was going into the pockets of MDAs and other deceitful politicians.”
The governor, who noted that the SIP was conceived as a vehicle for transforming the lives of poor Nigerians, stressed that the programme had become a means for siphoning public funds.
But reacting through the NSIP National Coordinator, Umar Bindir, Farouq said Governor Mohammed’s claim is unsubstantiated and has “absolutely no bearing to the realities on ground.”
According to the minister, the NSIP “is very much alive functional, dynamic and increasingly expanding to reach and continue to make a significant positive difference in the lives of even more poor and vulnerable households and beneficiaries nationwide, including Bauchi State.
“To claim otherwise will not be in tune with the realities on the implementation of the NSIP in his state, in particular, as regularly being reported in both the traditional and new media outlets.”
She said the social welfare initiative is “strictly being implemented by state government appointed officials and indigenes, who are working tirelessly alongside the NSIP team at the national level to deliver the inherent benefits of the various programmes to the poor and vulnerable persons in their respective states, in line with the good intentions of Mr. President to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty by the year 2030. The head of the State NSIP implementation team is a Focal Person directly appointed by His Excellency, the Governor.
“The entire beneficiaries and participants across all programmes (clusters) are bona fide indigenes of the state, just as payments to participants and beneficiaries are also made directly into their individual accounts.”
The Buhari administration introduced the NSIP in 2016. It was meant to alleviate poverty among vulnerable populations including children, youth, and women.