Buhari Directs Increase In N-Power, School Feeding Beneficiaries

President Muhammadu Buhari has boosted his administration’s efforts to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in the next 10 years.

The President directed an increase in the number of beneficiaries for the National Social Investment Programmes.

He also directed the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development to increase the number of N-Power beneficiaries from 500,000 to 1,000,000.

President Buhari further directed an increase in the number of beneficiaries of the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) by 1,000,000 and increase the beneficiaries of the Home-Grown School Feeding by 5,000,000.

Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Farouq, broke the news on Monday during a ministerial media briefing to give account of her ministry in the last one year in Abuja.

She said: “In a bid to realise Mr. President’s commitment to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in the next 10 years, the ministry places significant emphasis on youth empowerment by strategically ascertaining youth engagement as a foundational objective in implementing the following strategies: double the scope of the National Social Investment Programmes.

“Mr. President has graciously approved the expansion of all NSIP programmes. Such as increase of N-Power beneficiaries from 500,000 to 1,000,000, increase GEEP beneficiaries by 1,000,000 and increase of beneficiaries of Home-Grown School Feeding by 5,000,000.”

The minister said about 3.7 million households comprising of more than 15.5 million individuals have been captured on the National Social Register.

She said the ministry has developed a strategy for targeting the urban poor in line with President Buhari’s directive to expand the National Social Register.

“In championing Social Inclusion, deliberate efforts were made to capture vulnerable youth and groups which included Women, People with Special Needs, in the expansion of the National Social Register by one million households. Also, in the Economic Sustainability Plan, we have over 1,000,000 urban poor in the National Social Register.

“As of June 2020, 4.41 per cent of the total number of individuals captured in the National Social Register are recognised as persons with special needs. This comes to a total of 685,090 persons with special needs in the National Social Register.

“About 3.7 million households comprising of more than 15.5 million Individuals have been captured on the National Social Register. Of that number, over 2.8 million of the households which comprise of 13.5 million individuals are eligible for Conditional Cash Transfer. This numbers are spread across the 36 states and FCT. The numbers are further broken down to 7.6 million males and 7.9 million females as shown on the screen,” she said.