The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Farouq, has distributed engagement letters to 176 trained independent monitors of the National Social Investment Programme (N-SIP) in Sokoto state.
Presenting the letters on Monday, Farouq reiterated that the N-SIP was started by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2016 as one of his numerous strategies of lifting Nigerians out of poverty.
Represented by the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Bashir Alkali, Farouq said interventions included Job creation programmes, N-Power, National Home Grown Feeding Programme, Conditional Cash Transfer schemes, as well as the government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme, amongst others.
She stressed that the present training is for 5,000 Independent Monitors under N-SIP which was launched on 4 February, 2021, across the nation.
According to her, the distributed devices are equipped with applications that will be used to monitor activities of the independent monitors.
“The Application, which we call the Social Investment Management Information System (SIMIS), is a mobile and web-based application designed for monitoring the National Social Investment Programme.
“Using this Application, the ministry sees real time report of activities of the Independent Monitors on the field.
”We can view reports submitted and also see N-SIP performance indicators by State.”
The Minister noted that an Independent Monitor would be paid a stipend of N30,000 monthly, saying monitors must perform well in such a way that beneficiaries will qualify for such payments beginning from June 2021 to June 2022.
She also added that the effort would enable the Ministry to detect areas where there are challenges and also provide greater visibility of activities happening in the field.
”It will help us deliver our mandate and contribute to Mr President’s vision of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty,” Farouq noted.
Responding, governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto state, commended federal government for such a laudable step towards lifting Nigerians out of poverty.
Tambuwal, represented by the State Commissioner for Women and Children Affairs, Kulu Sifawa, emphasized the need to do more to help reach the remote areas.
He urged beneficiaries and workers to live up to expectations to ensure that the programme impacts positively on people’s wellbeing.
