FEC Approves NSIP Establishment Bill

Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved the National Social Investment Programme (Establishment) Bill, 2022.

Gatekeepers News reports that FEC, in a meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday, resolved that NSIP should be backed by legislation to ensure its continuity and sustainability.

The Bill seeks to establish the National Social Investment Programme Agency for the management and implementation of the National Social Investment Prorgrammes.

If enacted, the Bill will provide the necessary statutory backing for the existing NSIP under the FMHADMSD.

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development Sadiya Umar Farouq, during her presentation to the Council, described NSIP as a reliable tool for solving poverty problems in Nigeria.

“NSIP serves as an enduring legacy of this administration and is necessary to be backed by legislation at this time. Thus, the urgent need for Council to approve the NSIP Bill which seeks to provide statutory backing as conceptualized and established by this Administration.

“The NSIP is, directly and indirectly, impacting the lives of poor Nigerians through its four cluster programmes namely: the N-POWER Programme, the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP), the National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP) and the Conditional Cash Transfer Programme (CCT). These programmes are designed to serve as various forms of social safety nets specifically targeting those at the bottom of the social ladder or those who require some form of support to enable them to become productive members of society and finally prevent more people from falling below the poverty line.

“The submission is to create the National Social Investment Programme as an agency, in line with Mr President’s agenda to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty by the year 2030”.

NSIP will be implemented in full partnership with all the 36 State Governments and the FCT while Council also approved an acceptable source of funding for NSIP through a budgetary allocation and 5% of recovered and repatriated funds.