By Dennis Agbo

The over 125,550 beneficiaries of the National Social Investment Programme, N-SIP, in Enugu state have given appreciation to President Muhammadu Buhari for the programme which they said have affected their lives, positively.

They have equally made passionate appeals to the federal government to ensure the continuity of the programme beyond the Buhari administration and also lauded Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi’s provision of enabling environment that made all components of the programme thrive in the Enugu state.

The components of the N-SIP initiative under the federal ministry of Humanitarian Affairs include the M-Power, the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT), Graduate Entrepreneurship, the Home Grown School Feeding Programme (HGSF), Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP), among other programmes.

In a thank you rally in Enugu, on Sunday, the coordinator of the beneficiaries in the state, Mr Mark Chikamadu stated that they deemed it necessary to show appreciation to the federal ministry of humanitarian affairs and to also support the federal government.

He noted that under the programme, Enugu state has immensely benefited from all the components of N-SIP and will continue to benefit from the programme which made them find it necessary to give appreciation to President Buhari, the minister for humanitarian affairs, Sadiya Umar Farouq and Governor Ugwuanyi of Enugu state.

“We are asking Mr. President to do everything possible to enact a law that will domesticate the programme in Nigeria and in Enugu state so that when they leave, as a government is a continuum, they will continue to sustain the programme because the beneficiaries are yearning to continue this programme because if not they will go back to the poverty lives again,” Chikamadu said.

A cook in the Home Grown School Feeding Programme, Mrs. Chinyere Ebue said she was satisfied with the school feeding programme because it helped to improve her condition since 2017.

“Since I lost my husband, it has helped me feed my children and I am very grateful to Mr. President, the minister, the Governor and I ask them to continue the programme because the pupils enjoy the food we give them in the schools,” Ebue disclosed.

The head of Independent Monitors in the state, Mr. Ugwochukwu Akpa said he was satisfied with the service delivery in the schools benefiting from the school meals programme, noting however that most schools were not captured in the programme.

“For instance in Awgu local government area, we have more than 60 primary schools, but the ones that are receiving the stipends from the government are like 55 and most times the number of pupils fluctuate that in the first term a particular school could have 50 and the feeding is for primary one, two and three.

“In a particular school, they were 89 pupils last term, but this them they are 98 and there is no way for the government to adjust the money they are sending and so some people may be eating and others will watch but that is not the case, we will rather ration the food to accommodate every member of the class,” Akpa said.