Hope for 5m Additional Pupils as Sadiya Farouq Unveils Ambitious NSIP Programme

Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social development, Hajia Sadiya Umar Farouq has announced that the National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP) is being expanded to accommodate five million school children. This is even as Umar Farouq listed the benefits of the NHGSFP

Umar Farouq who made the disclosure in Abuja while announcing the commencement of the next stage of enrolment for Batch C Stream One of N-Power programme, said that the expansion of the NHGSFP to admit more school children is in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s  directive.

She listed the benefits of the home grown school feeding programme to include increase in school enrolment, improved nutrition  for benefitting pupils as well as boosting of local economies and facilitating job creation through the activities of 103,028 cooks, 100,000 small holder farmers and numerous aggregators and commodity transporters engaged in the scheme nationwide.

Under the NHGSFP a total of 9.196 million pupils in classes 1-3 in public primary schools will receive one nutritious meal daily in all the 54,619 primary schools nationwide.

On the enrolment of the Batch C Stream One of the N-Power programme, the Minister disclosed that 550,000 candidates have been shortlisted and are being contacted individually through their email addresses. She therefore advised to log on to the National Social Investment Management Systems (NASIMS) portal and enrol their biometric data in order to qualify for final selection.

The Minister also advised applicants to call NASIMS and N-Power dedicated helplines on 0188883410 or 08176551162 or send an e-mail to support.npower@nsaims.gov.ng for further enquiries, just as she advised the applicants to keep their application details handy to ensure hitch free communication with the call centre desk.

Umar Farouq used the forum to highlight some of the activities of her ministry, saying that plans have reached an advanced stage to on-board the second batch of beneficiaries under the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) and promised that beneficiaries of the scheme would be made public soon.

She further announced that as part of the National Social Investment Programme of the Federal Government, a Rapid Response Register (RRR) has been put in place by her ministry as a shock responsive intervention register specifically targeted at the urban informal workers impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Under the RRR, one million beneficiaries will receive a monthly cash transfer of N5,000 for six months.  Already, a pilot scheme commenced earlier this year with 3,115 beneficiaries in Lagos and Abuja while the programme is expected to be scaled up nationwide soon.

Umar Farouq restated the commitment of her ministry to the implementation of the NSIP in line with the President’s policy to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty within the next 10 years.