SIPs have ‘met the needs’ of beneficiaries

Some international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and civil society organisations (CSOs) have backed the social investment programmes (SIPs) of the federal government.

Africa Network for Environmental and Economic Justice (ANEEJ), Action Aid and the National Economic Summit Group (NESG) are among the organisation that endorsed the SIPs.

A presidential source said the validation by the NGOs is important to President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo because they did want to only rely on the feedback they were getting from “bureaucrats and those entrusted with the implementation”.

“This was important to the President and the Vice President in order to ensure that the administration was not just dependent on reports that come in from bureaucrats and those entrusted with the implementation,” the organisatins were quoted to have said.

“The programmes are also relevant because they have met the urgent needs of beneficiaries. The NSIP also are, no doubt, aligned with the international and national expectations of social protection interventions, and have contributed towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).”

At a press conference in May, David Ugolor, ANEEJ executive director, had said “the monitoring exercise conducted spot checks on the Funds disbursed in the August to September payment round to 30,778 beneficiaries in 11 States across five geopolitical zones of Nigeria.”

“Our findings show that a total of 974,478,000 million naira was released from the Abacha loot to the beneficiaries for payment in the August September Payment round as at the time of the monitoring exercise,” he had said.

“The funds disbursed from the Abacha loot comprise 80% of the funds paid at the August September payment cycle. Data retrieved from the NCTO report that 33 million dollars (3, 786, 063,783 billion naira) was released for 6 months from the Abacha loot and converted at an exchange rate of 305.45 Naira to a dollar.”

The source quoted Sonia Warner, senior adviser, Department for International Development (DFID)-UK, as saying “[There is] a strong sense of achievement being part of an intervention which has demonstrated that it is possible to retrieve stolen money and use it to support the victims of corruption in Nigeria.”

Warner said the Monitoring of Recovered Assets in Nigeria with Transparency and Accountability (MANTRA) initiative ensured the funds were not relooted.

Aisha Buhari, wife of the president, had said the scheme failed in the northern part of the country.