National Coordinator, the National Social Investment Programmes Agency (NSIPA), Hajiya Halima Shehu, has said since 2016 when the National Social Investment Programmes were created, poverty has not been eliminated because the population of the poor is much more in the country.
Speaking Tuesday in Abuja when she resumed office, the coordinator said the population of the poor and vulnerable was twice higher than the average population of Nigerians who can afford basic needs.
She noted that not up to 30 per cent of the poor and vulnerable people’s population has been empowered.
She stressed the need to ensure that poor people were taken out of their situation because the more they remain poor, the more they get involved in crime which endangers the safety of society.
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Shehu also noted that all operational lapses and issues that have prevented the government from lifting Nigerians out of poverty since the inception of the investment porgrammes would be looked into and eliminated.
She said the programmes have witnessed so many criticisms in the country for lack of transparency, accountability, free & fair selection of beneficiaries, realistic database and publicity, among others.
She assured that the agency would “do better in this aspect, especially now that the programmes are governed by an act which is a legal framework that clearly states the function of the agency, the CEO and stakeholders.”
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