By Boluwaji Obahopo – Lokoja

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajia Sadiya Umar Farouq has said that her ministry is working assiduously towards meeting the Federal Government mandate of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty.

The Minister make the disclosure in Lokoja at the distribution of engagement letters and tablets to trained independent monitors for its National Social Investment Program (NSIP).

Farouq said the distribution of the working tools was to complement the training of 5000 Independent Monitors for the National Social Investment Programme which commenced in February in Abuja.

She said the independent monitors will help to bring an independent evaluation to the activities of the ministry towards meeting its goals.

“Today we are here to distribute Engagement Letters and Devices to the Trained Independent Monitors. These Devices are equipped with an Application that will be used to report on monitoring activities of the trained Independent Monitors.

“All devices to be distributed today are locally made in Nigeria and the Monitoring Application was designed by an indigenous Company.

“The Application, which we called 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 see the NSIP performance indicators by state. This will enable the Ministry to detect areas where there are challenges and provide greater visibility of activities happening in the field. Essentially, it will help us deliver on our mandate and contribute to Mr. President’s vision of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of Poverty.”

Farouq who was represented by the Deputy Director, Public Research and Evaluation of the ministry, said the 50 independent monitors from the state are expected to monitor a designated number of beneficiaries of the National Social Investment Programme.

She likewise realed out the functions of the independent monitors, “Routine Monitoring of all programmes under the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP) in their assigned LGA; Provision of evidence-based report on findings in the field; Submission of various categories of reports in accordance with the set timelines.

The State Focal Person of NSIP, Mr Abdulkareem Onyekehi, said about 180,000 persons have benefited from the NSIP programs in Kogi, “43, 000 petty traders have benefited from the GEEP, over 34,000 beneficiaries of Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT), over 12,000 for NPower and about 80, 000 pupils for HGSFP, have benefited in Kogi State.

“The federal government had injected over N17 billion into the economy of Kogi State through NSIP since inception till date. N297 million injected through HGSFP, N799 million through GEEP, N4.9 billion through CCT, and N11.5 billion through NPower into Kogi economy since inception the FG’s NSIP till date.

”Kogi State Government is a responsible government and is committed to the full implementation of all FG’s programmes in the state. We will ensure that the program achieved its desired goals in Kogi State”, Onyekehi said.

The 50 trained independent monitors from the 21 local government areas of Kogi State who received their Engagement Letters and one Tablet device each has one year to complete their assignment.