The Senate at its plenary on Tuesday, 1st November 2016 called on the Federal Government (FG) to present a framework on its implementation of the N500billion social intervention funds within two (2) weeks. The resolution was premised on the need to prevent the marginalization of any segment of society.
Moving the motion titled ‘‘The Need to avoid the Mismanagement of the 500bn Social Intervention Funds’’ Sen. Ali Ndume (APC:Borno) recalled that the 8th Assembly had quickly facilitated approval for the said sum in the 2016 budget due to the significance accorded to social intervention. However, according to the majority leader, the said sum was approved in the absence of an implementation template to fast track the process of its implementation. Some of the critical areas the funds were meant to address include job creation, the provision of meals through a school feeding programme, conditional cash transfers schemes, financial support to 1 million vulnerable beneficiaries and a complementary enterprise program to empower 1 million market women, 400,000 artisans and 200,000 agricultural workers across the country.
Nevertheless, despite the laudable goals, Sen. Ndume highlighted that the implementation of the social intervention funds had been faced with some challenges. For instance, he mentioned that the new concept on ‘MPower’ requiring teachers, market women and graduates to register online discriminated against rural women and men who lack technological skills or no access to computer facilities. He also restated that the social intervention program was targeted at reaching the poorest and most vulnerable in society and proposed its critical appraisal.
Contributing to the motion Sen. Ike Ekweremadu (PDP:Enugu) suggested that the Senate carry out oversight to ensure that funds for the social intervention are distributed appropriately. Sen. Biodun Olujimi (PDP:Ekiti) also observed that previous social interventions had failed due to the lack of compliance with the procedure provided in the template before questioning how the current social intervention would fare in the absence of a template. She further mentioned that 80 billion out of the 500 billion for the social intervention had been spent without any indication of the beneficiaries before canvassing for a halt in the scheme until a framework for implementation was set out. Sen. Dino Melaye (APC:Kogi) also faulted the online platform set up for registration of teachers, market women and graduates to benefit from the intervention programme and highlighted the loophole of non- Nigerians benefitting from the social intervention scheme.
The Senate also called on the FG to incorporate the manual registration of beneficiaries from wards and local governments in the country. It further tasked the FG to create a clear channel of accountability in manner that includes the National Assembly in the implementation of the program. In this regard, the FG has been called to audit its report on the program on a continuous basis and present it to the Legislative arm.
