FG tasks NSIP monitors on service delivery

Agency Reporter 

The Federal Government has tasked Independent Monitors of the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP), to discharge their duties diligently to fast track successful implementation of the programme.

Hajiya Sadiya Umar-Farouq, Minister for Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, gave the charge at the presentation of devices and engagement letters to 57 monitors of the programme on Wednesday in Dutse, Jigawa.

Umar-Farouq, represented by Mr Aminu Tukur, Assistant Director ICT in the ministry, admonished the monitors not to assign their duties to third parties, warning that erring personnel would be penalised.

“The ministry reserves the right to disengage any independent monitor for misconduct or noncompliance with set guidelines and directives.

“I hereby, urge you to carry out this assignment with outmost sense of  patriotism, diligence and sincerity.

“And we at the ministry will not accept anything short of the set standards during the period of your assignment, which is for one year from  June 1, 2021 to May 31, 2022,” she said.

Read Also; NIN-SIM: Fed Govt approves July 26 deadline

Umar-Farouq said the programme was initiated in 2016 by President Muhammadu Buhari, designed to lift citizens out of poverty through viable social interventions.

She listed the interventions to include the Job Creation Programme (N-POWER); National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP), Conditional Cash Transfer Programme (CCT), and the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP).

According to her, the ministry has also inaugurated the Social Investment Management Information System (SIMIS) application.

She said the tablets were equipped with SIMIS application designed to enhance monitoring of the monitors and NSIP performance indicators.

“Using this application, the ministry sees real-time report of activities of the index monitors on the field.

“We can view reports submitted and see the NSIP performance indicators by state and detect areas of challenges.

“For example; under the NHGSFP, we can see where feeding has taken place and where there is no feeding happening.

“This will provide greater visibility to the ministry and equip us with information to follow up with implementation happening at the state level,” she said.

According to her, the application will guide the ministry to ensure that the programmes are working inline with their objectives.

She further tasked the states to ensure they meet up with their deliverables towards effective implementation of the programme.

This, she said, would help in delivering the mandate and contribute towards achieving the presidential’s vision of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty.

“The independent monitors are expected to monitor a designated number of beneficiaries of the NSIP.

“They (monitors) will be paid a monthly stipend of N30, 000, and they must meet up to 80% of their deliverables monthly to be eligible for their stipend,” she said.

She said the monitors’ scope of work include routine monitoring of all programmmes under the NSIP in their assigned LGAs, provision of evidence-based report on findings in the field, submission of various categories of reports in accordance with the set timelines, attending all trainings and meetings as required by the ministry.

In his remarks, the state’s NSIP Focal Person, Alhaji Bala Usman, urged the beneficiaries to discharge their duty diligently.

Usman reitrated the state government’s commitment to facilitate smooth implementation of the programme in the state.

Some of the beneficiaries, Muhammad Lawan and Mariya Rabi’u, commended the Federal Government for the gesture.

They promised to ensure effective utilisation of the facilities to monitor the implementation of the programme in the state.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports the ministry had deployed over 4,000 NSIP independent monitors to the 36 states and the FCT to ensure successful implemention of the programme.