About 235,000 individuals and 58,000 households are being targeted to benefit from the federal government initiated Social Investments Programme (SIP) in Sokoto if they are enrolled.
The SIP is designed to oversee the following programs: the National Cash Transfer Program, job creation and youth empowerment, Government Enterprises and Empowerment Program and Home Grown School Feeding Program as well as Youth Employment and Social Support Operation.
In a statement issued to newsmen in Sokoto by the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the governor, Muhammad Bello said the chairman of the committee on the activities of the SIP in Sokoto state, who is also the Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Sa’idu Umar, while presenting the report of the committee to Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal at Government House, Sokoto on Tuesday, said it was set up by the state government to look into the affairs of the SIP, particularly its conditional cash transfer scheme, in which the state is listed as having the lowest number of enrollees in the data captured with a little above 3,400 households said to have benefited.
He explained that after the inauguration of the committee, its members agreed to invite a technical committee from the National Social Safety-Net Coordinating (NASSCO) office to guide them on how to attain a higher number of beneficiaries in the state.
Alhaji Saidu said the committee invited a 13-member technical team, 9 from NASSCO and 4 from the Youth Empowerment and Socila support Operation (YESSO).
He said the technical committee requested all the local government chairmen to provide the committee with 12 community based targeting team, comprising boys and girls from their respective local government areas. It also recruited 18 enumerators from each local government area.
The chairman added that in total the committee generated data for 54,094 households and 235,478 individuals within five weeks of its work.
Alhaji Saidu Umar said the committee, therefore recommended the continuation of the enumeration and enrolment of households by the office of the Special Adviser to the State Governor on SIP after the reorganisation of the state agency as recommended.
Receiving the report of the committee, Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal said the reason behind constituting it was because the state government got worrisome and disturbing information that the state was able to get only 3000 slots from the federal scheme, whereas other states got hundreds of thousands.
While commending members of the committee for a good job, the governor said the state government would look into its recommendations and approve them, so that the new office that will be saddled with the responsibility of running the programme in the state will take-off immediately.
Tambuwal also assured that his administration will ensure that the state is at all times adequately represented at federal level so as to get adequate share of whatever program the federal government is dishing out, adding that government of Sokoto state will continue to facilitate this pursuit through the appropriate platforms.
