The Senate at its plenary session of Tuesday, 6 December 2022, passed for Second Reading the executive Bill to establish the National Social Investment Programme Agency under the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development responsible for providing a legal and institutional framework for the management and implementation of National Social Investment Programmes (NSIP).
Leading the debate on the Bill, the Senate Majority Leader, Sen. Ibrahim Gobir (APC: Sokoto) explained that the NSIP was created in 2016 to address socio-economic inequalities among Nigerians through four social support programmes to improve the living standards of vulnerable citizens. Sen. Gobir noted these programme to include:
- The N-Power Programme which is an is an initiative of government aimed at building the skills of youth and promoting entrepreneurship.
- The Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) which is an intervention that addresses the challenges of access to credit facilities and to provide soft loans to Nigerians through the Trader Moni, Market Moni and Farmer Moni initiatives.
- The National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP) which provides one nutritious meal a day to public primary school pupils with the aim of increasing school enrolment, reducing incidence of malnutrition, etc.
- The Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) Programme which provides cash transfers to vulnerable households as grants.
Speaking on key achievements recorded since the inception of the NSIPs, Sen. Gobir mentioned that one million youth have been empowered through the N-Power Programme, 1,632,480 have benefitted from the CCT Programme, 9.8 million children have been fed under the NHGSFP and 2,424,253 have been granted access to loans through the GEEP. According to Sen. Gobir, the Bill, if passed into law, will ensure the continuity and sustainability of NSIPs.
The Bill which has now been referred to the Committee on Special Duties for further legislative action was transmitted by President Muhammadu Buhari through a letter read by the President of the Senate, Sen. Ahmad Lawan (APC: Yobe) at the plenary session of Wednesday, 30 November 2022.
President Muhammadu Buhari also transmitted the same Bill to the House of Representatives requesting consideration and passage.
