As different sections of the executive arm of the Federal Government are
\nnow defending the 2017 budget proposals before the National Assembly, new
\ndetails are emerging on the continuation of the Social Investment
\nProgrammes, (SIP)of the Buhari presidency, including a plan to hire
\n350,000 more unemployed graduates under the N-Power Volunteer Corps.<\/p>\n
According to the Senior Special Assiatant on Media & Publicity to the
\nPresident, Office of the Vice President, Mr. Laolu Akande, President
\nBuhari has requested appropriation of N157.75B in the 2017 budget
\nestimates for the N-Power scheme.<\/p>\n
The N-Power is just one of the many SIPs that has so far drawn the
\ninterest and praise of Nigerians across board, Akande observed adding that
\na lot more is to come, especially this year, urging Nigerians to actively
\ncome out and take advantage of the different schemes this year.
\nOut of the N-Power 2017 N157B 2017 budget ” 350,000 unemployed graduates
\nmore would be hired and trained, alongside 50,000 non-graduates youths to
\nbe engaged as artisans and in other creative ventures,” Akande disclosed
\nin his weekly update on the Social Investment Programmes on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Under the N157.75B also, a sum of N4.5B has been earmarked for the
\nScience, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, STEM program to support
\nyoung Nigerians in building skills in those disciplines.<\/p>\n
Akande who welcomed the great public enthusiasm the programmes have so far
\ngenerated, noted that the SIP budget proposals for 2017 are currently
\nbeing discussed this week at the National Assembly, and urged Nigerians to
\nexpect more this year especially in the area of implementation as
\nvirtually all of the SIPs are now undergoing different stages of
\nimplementation.<\/p>\n
“While we were able to engage 200,000 unemployed graduates last year, we
\nwill do 350,000 more this year,” he assured, adding that some of the
\nteething problems are giving way to lessons that would smoothen
\nimplementation under the 2017 budget.<\/p>\n
Equally, under the 2017 budget proposals now before the National Assembly,
\nAkande disclosed that about N75B has been allocated for the National
\nHomegrown School Feeding Programme, which will provide one hot meal a day
\nto 5 million primary school pupils. He explained again, that this would
\ncertainly be an improvement on how far the feeding programme has been
\nimplemented so far under the 2016 budget which has so far attained the
\nfeeding of about one million pupils.<\/p>\n
The Spokesperson to the Acting President also stated that under the 2017
\nbudget a sum of N112.2B has been allocated for the Government Enterprise
\nand Empowerment Programme aimed at providing interest-free loans to up to
\n1.2million market men and women, traders, artisans, youths and farmers.<\/p>\n
Under the GEEP, he explained that beneficiaries will receive between
\nN10,000 and N100,000 loans with a one-time 5% administrative fee. Already
\nunder the 2016 budget, over 20,000 Nigerians in about 14 states and
\ncounting, have been benefiting from GEEP.<\/p>\n
Similarly, the Conditional Cash Transfer which has kicked off in 9 states
\nwould be further expanded under the 2016 budget and will reach more states
\nand much more Nigerians. The plan in 2016 budget targets one million
\npoorest and vulnerable Nigerians. And in the 2017 budget an additional
\nN54.98B has been allocated for the continuation of the N5000 monthly
\nsocial safety net payments to the poorest Nigerians.<\/p>\n
Akande further clarified that while President Muhammadu Buhari has further
\napproved another N500B this year for all the social intervention
\nprogrammes, N100B out of it has been allocated for the Family Homes Fund
\nas already announced by the Ministry of Finance.<\/p>\n
“2017 implementation of the SIP is going to be far more impactful than
\nwhat we were able to do under the 2016 budget, so Nigerians should expect
\nmore this year, the resolve of the Buhari presidency is firm that more
\nlives must be touched positively under this programmes which Nigerians
\nhave come to appreciate,” Akande concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As different sections of the executive arm of the Federal Government are now defending the 2017 budget proposals before the National Assembly, new details are emerging on the continuation of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":54867,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n