The wife of the Nigerian President, Aisha Buhari, has faulted the Social Investment Programme of the Federal Government, saying the programme has failed to achieve its aim in Kano and most parts of Northern Nigeria.
Mrs Buhari faulted the programme during an interactive session with women as part of the presidential inauguration ceremony at the State House in Abuja.
The wife of the President, who specifically mentioned the conditional cash transfer component, questioned the method used in executing the programme.
She also faulted the amount of money spent on the purchase of mosquito nets.
“They have spent $16 million buying mosquito nets. I did not get it, but maybe some people have gotten it. I didn’t get it. But I feel that, that’s my personal opinion. $16 million is enough to fumigate Nigeria,” she said.
Generally, Mrs Buhari did not agree with the method adopted for the programme.
She said, “I was expecting the social investment programme, N500 billion, to be utilised in a different method; to achieve the aim. But I don’t know the method they used. Most of the Northern states did not get the money. I don’t know – my state didn’t get the money. I don’t know if your state got the money.”
Besides, Mrs Buhari explained that the programme worked well in some states and that for other states where it did not succeed, a different approach should have been used.
She added, “In my state, one local government benefitted from it, out of 22 local governments. I didn’t’ ask what happened and I don’t want to know.”
Although the wife of the President is concerned about the performance of the programme in her state, she disclosed that it was worse in Kano.
“For it to fail woefully in Kano is not a good sign,” she said.
