NEWS
NSIP: FG Recruits, Trains 7,452 Independent Monitors, Distributes Tablets
From Joseph Amedu, Lokoja
The Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development (FMHADMSD), said it had employed and trained 7,452 Independent Monitors to ensure effective implementation and monitoring of the integrated National Social Investment Programmes (N-SIP) across the country.
The Minister, FMHADMSD, Sadiya Umar-Farouq, disclosed this at inauguration of the training and onboarding of 3000 Stream 2 Independent Monitors of the N-SIP in Lokoja at the weekend.
The Minister, who was represented by her Special Assistant on Monitoring and Evaluation, Mrs Bilikisu Dauda-Damisa, said the training and onboarding of Stream 2 Independent Monitors was flagged off June 9, 2022, in Abuja.
She noted that the Stream l, had 4,452 Independent Monitors trained and enrolled in February and March 2021, while Stream ll had 3000, totaling 7, 452 Independent monitors across the country.
Umar-Farouq added that the Ministry had provided working tools in the form of Tablets for them to carry out their monitoring activities on the field.
She said the NSIP was created by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2016 with the mandate of lifting citizens out of poverty through a number of Social Interventions.
According to her, the NSIP include: Job Creation – NPOWER, National Home-Grown School Feeding (NHGSFP), Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT), and the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP).
She said that since NSIP commenced in 2016, over one million youths had been employed under Npower, two million beneficiaries under CCT, 10 million pupils under HGSFP and 230,000 under the GEEP intervention programmes.
She said the Independent Monitors are responsible for monitoring the NSIPs in their various communities in schools, households, and market clusters with the focus of ensuring that its primary objectives were achieved.
”Monitors are one of the most important components of the NSIP and the Ministry lays special emphasis on ensuring its programmes are closely monitored.
”We have monitors in every local government area, where the NSIPs are being implemented,” she said.
She urged the independent monitors to work hand in hand with the state NSIP team, and cautioned them against intimidation or harassment of beneficiaries.
”Any Independent Monitor found intimidating or harassing a beneficiary will be taken off the programme.
”Be informed that we have officials of the EFCC and DSS working with us on this programme, and those found culpable will be handed over to relevant authorities,” she said.
The minister urged the participants to use the resources and working tools given to them judiciously.
Earlier, the state’s Focal Person of N-SIP, Mr Suleiman Onyekehi, said the social intervention programmes had achieved a tremendous success in alleviating poverty in the state.
Onyekehi, who doubles as the Special Adviser to the Governor on Special Projects, said 177,000 out of the total 258,000 enrolled pupils from Primary 1 to 3, were currently being fed, and over 3000 cooks recruited in the state.
He appealed to the federal government for improvement in budgetary allocation of N70 per child, saying inflation rate had rendered the N70 inadequate to feed a child.
He added that over 74,000 CCT beneficiaries currently receiving N10,000 each bi-monthly; over 26,000 Npower beneficiaries of both Batch C, Stream 1 & 2; and 7,000 shortlisted for disbursement under GEEP across the state.
He noted Kogi now had about 100 independent monitors spread across the state with critical roles to play, urging them to ensure total collaboration with the state NSIP team.
He disclosed that the State Government had recently disengaged over 100 cooks who defaulted in one way or the other against the national rules and guidelines.
Onyekehi added that the process for their replacement were currently ongoing, saying many more cooks would be recruited to cater for the enrolled 258,000 pupils across the state.
He assured that the Government under the leadership of His Excellency, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, operated open governance accessible to all, and committed to transparency and accountability.
On his part, the state Coordinator of the Independent Monitors, Adam Imam, commended the federal government for the initiative in using independent monitors for N-SIP activities which he said, had ensured effective monitoring and followups.
The Police Command in Anambra says gunmen have burnt its station in Umunze, Orumba South Local Government Area, killing two officers.SP Tochukwu Ikenga, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, announced this in a statement issued in Awka on Monday.He said that the gunmen attacked the police facility with improvised explosives, shooting sporadically, which caused a fire to burn part of the station.
He said further that during the attack, two police operatives on duty were killed when they attempted to resist the gunmen. Ikenga stated that the bodies of the deceased policemen had been recovered and taken to the morgue.He also noted that joint security forces, including the police, army and navy, among others, had recovered five unexploded improvised explosives.Ikenga noted that the Commissioner of Police in Anambra, CP Nnaghe Itam, had visited the scene for assessment.He said that Itam called on anyone with information that could assist in the investigation to come forward, assuring then that such information would be treated confidential.(NAN)
By Tony Obiechina, Abuja
The Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) has reiterated the Federal Government’s determination to maintain and operate a secure and efficient personnel and payroll system.In a statement by the Director of Press and Public Relations, Mr Bawa Mokwa on Monday, the OAGF maintained that the Integrated Personal and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) database has not been compromised, assuring that employees personal data on the IPPIS database is safe and secured.
The OAGF, which manages the IPPIS and other financial management initiatives of the Federal Government, said it is already implementing its ICT Security Policy that aims to ensure that its digital assets are secured in line with global best practices. The Office explained that no data is saved on its website, adding that the IPPIS uses the website to only share information and not for any transaction. “The IPPIS is not using the OAGF website for any transaction. The website is actually the medium to share information. Neither payroll nor payment is made through the website, therefore, no data is contained in the website”, it said. The OAGF stated that the IPPIS validation portal that was recently developed for updates of employees information was deployed for a period and after the exercise was over, the data were pulled out and the site shut down permanently.According to the statement, “the IPPIS Validation Portal was deployed on a secure platform. A secured database and application were purchased from the popular HELIX-FONS.”The Office acknowledged that the IPPIS is of utmost importance to Nigerian workers, thus it became imperative to assuage the fears of any loss or breach of employees personal data in the IPPIS database. The OAGF noted that the IPPIS has put in place necessary mechanism to resolve any problem that may arise in its operations and advised workers that observe anomalies in their salaries to follow the official procedures inorder to get such issues resolved.
By Tony Obiechina, Abuja
Nigeria’s headline inflation dropped to 32.15 percent in August, according to National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report
The report released on Monday said the inflation eased the second time in 2024 after a 19 month increase that peaked at 34.19 percent in June.
“Looking at the movement, the August 2024 headline inflation
rate showed a decrease of 1.
It however, said on a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 6.35 percent points higher compared to the rate recorded in August 2023 (25.80%).
“This shows that the headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) increased in August 2024 when compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.
e, August 2023).Furthermore, on a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in August 2024 was 2.22%, which was 0.06% lower than the rate recorded in August 2024 (2.28%).
” This means that in August 2024, the rate of increase in the average price level is lower than the rate of increase in the
average price level in July 2024.”
The report added that food inflation rate in August 2024 was 37.52 percent on a year-on-year basis, which was 8.18% points higher compared to the rate recorded in August 2023 (29.34%).
It said the rise in food inflation
on a year-on-year basis was caused by increases in prices of; “Bread, Maize Grains, Guinea Corn, etc (Bread and Cereals Class), Yam, Irish Potatoes, Water Yam, Cassava Tuber, etc (Potatoes, Yam & Other Tubers Class), Palm Oil, Vegetable, etc (Oil & Fats Class) and
Ovaltine, Milo, Lipton, etc (Coffee, Tea & Cocoa Class).”
But on a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in August 2024 was 2.37 percent, a 0.10% decrease compared to the rate recorded in July 2024 (2.47 percent).
“The fall can be attributed to the decline in the rate of increase in the average prices of Tobacco, Tea, Coco, Coffee, Groundnut Oil, Milk, Yam, Irish Potatoes, Water Yam, Cassava Tuber, Palm Oil, Vegetable etc.”
It added that the average annual rate of Food inflation for the twelve months ending August 2024 over the previous twelve-month average was 36.99 percent, which was 11.98 percent points increase from the average annual rate of change recorded in August 2023 (25.01 percent).
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