In this interview with LEADERSHIP Weekend in Ilorin, the focal person for the federal government's National Social Investment Programme (N-SIP) for Kwara State, Dr Rabiat Shehu-Jimoh says women beneficiaries of the scheme have become breadwinners of their families. She adds that a total of 65,528 Kwarans have so far benefitted from the scheme. Excerpts:

I am Dr Rabiat Shehu Alabere. I am the daughter of the late Professor Shehu Jimoh. Presently, I am serving as the focal person of National Social Investment programme (N-SIP) in Kwara State.

What is N-SIP and what is it all about?

N-SIP is National Social Investment Programme. It is a branch of the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development. NSIP has four units: NHGSFP (National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme), GEEP (Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme), CCT (Conditional Cash Transfer), and N-Power (Skills Acquisition).

NHGSFP was designed to provide one free hot balanced and nutritious meal to primary 1-3 pupils in public schools.

What are the main objectives of the programme ?

The programme is aimed at poverty reduction, good nutrition for school pupils, and increasing enrollment in schools. It was also designed to fight against hunger and poor human development

indices as well as ensuring credible targeting of the poor and vulnerable members of the country.

When was it initiated by the FG?

It was initiated in 2016 by President Muhammadi Buhari under the office of the Vice President.

What time did Kwara join the programme ?

The NHGSFP started in Kwara State in 2019 when Mallam AbdulRahaman AbdulRazaq became the governor of the state.

How many Kwarans have benefited from the programme in the state?

Ans: The total beneficiaries for the 4 clusters of N-SIP in the state are as follows: Under NHGSFP we have 1,667 cooks and 94, 881 pupils being fed daily. Under GEEP we have has 3,060 beneficiaries, under CCT we have 34,334 beneficiaries

while N-POWER has 26,467 youths that benefited from various skills like sewing, baking, welding and fabrication, aluminium and fabrication, jewelry and bead making, as well as N-teach, N-Agro, etc.

How has the programme impacted the lives of the people of the beneficiaries ?

The programmes have brought succor to the beneficiaries who were hitherto jobless. The women who are the cooks can now feed their children, take care of their needs and help the family members from the monthly payments they get for cooking while the number of pupils at schools have increased tremendously. We now have more enrolment of pupils in all schools across all the 16 local government areas in the state. Many youths who benefited from the N- Power scheme can establish themselves with one trade or the other learned from the N-skills programmes. Thousands of youths are paid monthly for their deployments to various ministries. Under GEEP, many youths, men, and women benefited from Tradermoni, Marketmoni, and Farmermoni. This is a scheme where they get a loan of 50,000 for trader Moni and marketmoni while the farmermoni is 300,000 worth of farm materials.

The CCT scheme recorded the largest number of beneficiaries in the state as many women who are breadwinners of their families and old women were paid N5000

monthly for a year to take care of their needs. The first stream of three years has been completed while the new stream will soon start. All in all, we have a total number of 65,528 beneficiaries of NSIP programmes in the state. More beneficiaries will join as the vision of President Muhammadu Buhari is to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty by 2030, which is also the ambition of His Excellency, Mallam AbdulRahaman AbdulRazaq, the Executive Governor of Kwara State, to bring out many Kwarans from poverty at the state level, particularly the women.

Governor AbdulRazaq has increased the number of women in political appointments. Appraise his gender friendliness.?

Governor AbdulRazaq has done very well in the appointment of more women into key government offices. The governor's cabinet has over 50 percent women representatives. The governor's passion for the development of the women folks has been locally and internationally recognised. You will recall that the governor bagged the UN's ' He for She' award and he was also honoured by the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs for surpassing the 35 percentage political appointment allocation for women. I give kudos to our Governor for this great accomplishment.

What is your message to all beneficiaries of various programmes under N- SIP in Kwara State?

My advice to women is to come out with their relatives to vote and re-elect Governor AbdulRazaq who has done so much for us in the last four years. In the history of Kwara State women have not had it so good as being witnessed under the AbdulRazaq's administration.

Women need to vote for our governor during the 11th March, 2023 elections so that the NSIP programmes will continue in the state and more women and youth will benefit from it. In appreciation of the governor's love for the masses and especially the women, I recently led the N- SIP beneficiaries on a 'thank you rally' for Mr. President, Muhammadu Buhari and His Excellency, Governor AbdulRazaq. During the highly successful rally from the town to the Surulere family residence of the AbdulRazaqs in Ilorin, the state capital, I sensitised all the cooks and other beneficiaries of NSIP on the need to re-elect Governor AbdulRazaq for second term on the 11th of March, 2023 to reciprocate his kind gestures to us the women and our daughters who are holding various positions of authority in AbdulRazaq's administration.