Lai claims Abuja feeds 10m daily under Social Investment Programme
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Abuja claims 10 million children are feeding daily under its Social Investment Programme (SIP) and 1,632,480 households have benefited from the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) scheme.
CCT scheme transfers N5,000 monthly to beneficiaries, paid bi-monthly to all eligible households selected from the National Social Register (NSR).
Information Minister Lai Mohammed, who announced the figures in Abuja, also explained the federal government has provided rail transportation across the country.
He was replying Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which said Muhammadu Buhari has failed to deliver his promised dividends of democracy and, so, the All Progressives Congress (AP) has no positive record to campaign on.
“Have they not seen, have they not heard of our National Social Investment Programme (NSIP) that is unprecedented in the history of this country?” Mohammed asked.
“No administration in the history of Nigeria has had a Social Investment Programme (SIP) that feeds 10 million school children a day; a cash transfer scheme that has enrolled 1,632,480 households (not individuals), a scheme that empowers and pays stipends to unemployed graduates and an Enterprise Empowerment Programme (EEP) that provides easily-accessible micro loans to those at the bottom of the economic pyramid, who engage in commercial activities but face significant challenges with access to finance and credit?”
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Sports to generate more revenue
Youths and Sports Minister Sunday Dare insisted there is no plan to make the National Youths Service Corps (NYSC) programme optional, against calls to scrap the mandatory one-year scheme.
“The rationale behind the establishment of the NYSC by Yakubu Gowon still subsists. Every country, including Nigeria, promotes its unity in diversity on daily basis,” Dare argued, as reported by The Guardian.
He reiterated the livewire of any nation is its youths and once their patriotism is captured, it spreads across the entire land.
He, however, decried the low income generating capacity of sports to the economy, disclosing only about $300,000 is generated from sports yearly. But he expressed hope the new sports policy would attract more revenue.
On Nigeria’s failure to qualify for the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, he said: “We tried, but our effort was not enough.”
Dare highlighted the ministry’s effort to renovate stadia across the country, including the Moshood Abiola Stadium, Abuja, which he said has been receiving more than 300 visitors daily since its facelift.
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